


Hold Me Tight (Or Don't)

by LiterateChick



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Candlenights, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Holidays, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In, all those good good fake dating tropes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-18 08:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13096257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiterateChick/pseuds/LiterateChick
Summary: Kravitz just needed someone to pretend to be his boyfriend so his mothers would stop trying to set him up at their Candlenights party, but when he runs into Taako at the very same Candlenights party it requires some quick acting on their part. Taako thought that he would just have fun for one night, pretend to be high class, and then move on with his life, but then Kravitz shows up in his life unexpectedly again, and this time he's doesn't have anywhere else to go.Fake dating holiday AU where they get snowed in at Merle's vacation home.





	1. Chapter 1

Kravitz ran into an empty room, closing the door behind him and leaning up against it, relieved to have escaped the party for a moment. It was a Candlenights tradition that his mothers threw a huge party every year and every year Kravitz had to leave for a few minutes to catch his breath. At least his mom wasn’t trying to set him up with every handsome young man at the party this year.

Since he’d left for university, it had been the same every Candlenights break. It started with his mothers asking him if he’d found anyone since last they saw him and when the answer was invariably ‘no,’ Raven started introducing him to every one of her friends’ kids at the Candlenights party with a wink and suggestive nudging while his other mom, Istus, laughed and encouraged Raven from the sidelines. Not this year, though. Kravitz had thought up a way to avoid the endless parade of men he wasn’t interested in. Still, he needed a breather from the sheer amount of people.

The room he was in was dark. The breakfast room had wide windows on two walls but it was late and, since it wasn’t part of the party space, the lights were off. Kravitz didn’t mind the darkness, it was a relief to the mild headache that had sprung up behind his eyes. He rubbed his face and sat on a cushioned bench that was up against one of the windows. He had a moment before his mother would realize he’d left.

As he was sitting, enjoying the relative silence, the door Kravitz hadn’t come through swung open. It was the door to the kitchen, which was bright and bustling with the activity of the catering company. A backlit shape snuck out the door and closed it quietly as Kravitz, unnoticed, watched. The shape leaned on the kitchen door like Kravitz had done to the hall one only a few moments before, shaking their long hair out of a hairnet and breathing a sigh. They looked up and spotted Kravitz in the dim light.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, “This hiding spot taken already?”

Kravitz was silent for a moment, trying to piece together where he knew the figure from. His face was vaguely familiar, even in the dim light. Then it struck him.

“Um, I’m sorry, this might be weird, but is your name Taako?” He said.

The figure flipped his long blonde hair and stuck out a hip dramatically. “Why yes I am, but how the fuck did you know that handsome?”

Kravitz was struck silent. This kind of thing could only happen to him. Only he would have the guy he got to pretend to be his boyfriend so his moms would get off his back show up at the family party.

“I’m, um, I’m Kravitz,” he said, resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands. “The guy who got you to send him pictures to prove he had a boyfriend.”

Taako’s eyes widened, but whether it was in shock or amusement, Kravitz couldn’t tell. “Oh shit,” he said, “well isn’t this a small world.”

Kravitz had made a plan. He would fake a boyfriend so that his mothers would stop their annual matchmaking. He’d posted on Fantasy Craig’s List asking for pictures to show his mothers as proof. The first response he’d gotten was from Taako, and had consisted of one line: _you want me homie_. Attached had been a selfie with a flower crown filter. The man in the picture certainly was pretty, Kravitz had to admit. So he’d sent a message back, asking specifically for pictures that looked like they’d been taken by someone else, and transferred the $20 that had been promised in the original listing. And Taako delivered. The pictures were perfect, a mix between candids and posed that all looked like they could have been taken on dates. He’d had almost no problem convincing his moms that he’d recently started dating the handsome elf in the pictures, though he’d left out the one that Taako had sent that made it look like he’d just woken up, rumpled hair and wearing only a t-shirt. His moms didn’t need to draw any unwanted conclusions. It had gone off without a hitch, and by pretending they’d just started dating before the break he was able to make excuses for not knowing answers to too many personal questions. All he had to do, then, was stage a fake break-up a few weeks after Candlenights break ended and he’d be in the clear. The perfect crime.

Except now Taako was at his parent’s Christmas party.

“Oh my gods, okay, my mothers can not see you here,” Kravitz said, getting up and taking a step towards Taako. “They think we’re dating, and this’ll just throw everything off.”

“I mean yeah, obvi,” Taako said. “Besides, I’m not dressed for such a swinging party.” He looked Kravitz over as he said it, nodding. “Nice suit. I sure picked a handsome boy.”

Kravitz was glad it was dark because he was pretty sure he’d just started blushing. This was crazy.

Because it was Kravitz’s life and this was the kind of thing that happened to him, the door to the breakfast room swung open and there was his mother.

“Kravitz, darling, what are you doing here in the dark?” Raven asked as she flicked on the light. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere and, oh,” She stopped as she saw who was in the room with him.

“Mother,” Kravitz said a little too loudly. He hoped and prayed that his mother wouldn’t recognize the elf standing beside him. But of course he wouldn’t get so lucky.

“You’re Taako, aren’t you?” Raven said, her face breaking into a wide smile. Kravitz prayed that the floor would swallow him up.

Taako, for his part, immediately jumped into the role. He discretely tossed the hairnet to the floor behind him and smiled, stepping forward gracefully and extending a hand for her to shake. “Absolutely charmed,” he said. “Kravitz, dear, won’t you introduce me to your lovely mother?”

Kravitz found his throat suddenly dry but he forced himself to speak. “Yes, um, Taako, this is my mother Raven. Mother, this is Taako, my… er…”

“His boyfriend,” Taako said, turning to smile at Kravitz as he shook Raven’s hand. “I am so sorry for my appearance, I was just passing through on my way home for the holidays and I was close by so I decided to pop in to see my Kravvy.”

Kravitz winced. “Please don’t,” he said, and Taako laughed. It was an airy sound, a little too high pitched.

“Oh don’t be shy, darling. I’m sure your mother doesn’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t!” Raven exclaimed. “I am so happy to meet the man who has stolen my son's heart.”

Taako laughed politely, motioning behind his back for Kravitz to step forward. He did, and when he was next to Taako Taako grabbed his hand and wrapped his arm around him. Taako leaned into him, making it look like it was Kravitz who had made the move.

“Well I am so happy to meet you! Kravitz talks about you all the time, it’s really quite sweet.”

Kravitz was sure he was blushing now.

“Oh, you simply must come meet Istus,” Raven said, taking Taako’s elbow and steering him to the hallway that led back to the party.

“Oh I couldn’t,” Taako protested, “I’m not dressed for it.”

“Nonsense darling, you look excellent!” Raven said. “Kravitz, doesn’t Taako look just excellent?”

Kravitz looked at Taako and considered it. He certainly was beautiful, perhaps even more so in person. His copper skin was dotted with freckles and his eyes were forest green, shining as they looked up at Kravitz, perhaps with a little too much mischeif. His blonde hair cascaded down his back in waves. He was tall, only a few inches shorter than Kravitz who was, by all accounts, ridiculously tall. He was wearing a white collared shirt, pushed up at the elbows and tucked into a pair of high waisted black pants. It was the outfit all the caterers were wearing, minus the tie and vest, but Taako made it look effortlessly lovely. Maybe his shirt was a little crumpled and he was a little sweaty from working in the kitchens, but Kravitz couldn’t deny that he looked good.

“Of course you do,” Kravitz said, trying not to sound shy. Trying to sound like he told this man that he looked good all the time. “You always do.”

Taako beamed at him and turned back to Raven, nodding. “Of course I’d love to meet Istus,” he said. As they left Kravitz took a few deep breaths. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one.

The party they returned to was in full swing. The ballroom was full of people, most of whom Kravitz only sort of recognized. Taako leaned over to Kravitz and whispered, “Offer me your arm.” Kravitz did so and as Taako took it he smiled, waving occasionally at a guest like he recognized them even though he almost definitely didn’t. People occasionally looked over with vague interest but no one seemed too curious. Istus was sitting on one of the couches by the fireplace, talking to the guests who passed her. She looked up as Raven rushed over to her, whispering in her ear as Taako and Kravitz approached more slowly. Kravitz would have been happy to hurry along and get it over with but Taako was setting the pace.

“So who is this Istus?” Taako whispered even as he grinned and waved at her.

“My other mother,” Kravitz whispered back. “You really don’t have to do this.”

“Are you kidding?” Taako said with mischief in his voice. “And pass up the opportunity to crash a rich ass party and be arm candy for someone as handsome as you?” He leaned up and whispered right into Kravitz’s ear as they got within range of his two mothers. “You should know me better than that, _babe._ ”

Kravitz couldn’t remember the last time he’d blushed so hard. It was usually difficult to tell but at that moment he was sure that even his dark face was turning bright red.

Taako was just as good talking to Istus as he had been talking to Raven. He was charming and dramatically over the top, obviously having a great time. Kravitz mostly stayed quiet, deathly afraid he’d say the wrong thing and ruin it. When one of the waiters came by with a tray full of glasses of champagne Taako took two, offering one to Kravitz while giving a shit eating grin to the server. One of his co workers, Kravitz realized when he saw the glare the server was giving him. For a moment Kravitz was worried the man would give them away, but Taako just turned his back on the man and continued to talk to his mothers. The man switched his glare to Kravitz before turning away and walking around the room, offering champagne to the rest of the guests.

“Don’t worry about him,” Taako whispered when Raven and Istus were briefly distracted by another guest. “He’s got the hots for ol’ Taako, he won’t give us away.”

Kravitz wasn’t sure, but he tried to relax as much as he possibly could under the circumstances, which was not very much. Taako was doing fantastic, he had to admit. He glazed over things he was just learning about Kravitz as if he’d known them all along and when other guests came by to be introduced he charmed them easily. It was going shockingly well when Istus stood and said “Well, it has been an absolute pleasure Taako, but we should probably go socialize with our other guests.” She offered her hand, which Taako took and kissed with flair. Istus laughed as she took Raven’s arm. “Come, dearest, have you seen the pictures of Anastasia’s new baby?”

“No, but I suppose there’s no way to avoid it,” Raven said as Istus dragged her away. She gave Taako a warm smile as they left. Kravitz sank into the couch he was sitting on, sighing in relief.

“They’re going to be so disappointed when you have to stage a breakup with me,” Taako said jokingly as he sat back beside Kravitz. He leaned into Kravitz’s side and, when Kravitz coughed awkwardly, said “We have to keep up appearances, darling.”

“You don’t have to call me that,” Kravitz muttered. “No one can hear us.”

Taako hummed shortly before sighing and sitting up. “Well, I should probably make my exit while I can,” he said. He looked over the back of the couch, towards the kitchen, and winced. “There’s almost no way I haven’t already been fired,” he said.

Kravitz frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. “I am so sorry,” he said. “You really didn’t have to go along with it, and if you want I can have a talk with your supervisor or...” He was cut off when Taako got to his feet, shaking his head.

“No need for that, handsome.” He grinned. “I had a blast and got to have some of that amazing champagne. I can make excuses for myself, and besides it was only a holiday job.” He shrugged, then held his hand out for Kravitz to take. When Kravitz hesitated, feeling awkward and horrible that he didn’t even consider that Taako might lose his job, Taako leaned forward and took the hand that was resting in Kravitz’s lap.

“Come on, walk me to the door and I’ll make my escape. No reason to push our luck any more, is there?”

Kravitz agreed with that, so he stood and offered his arm to Taako again. Taako took it with a grin.

“You’re learning,” he said as they started heading towards the door. “Do you want me to tell your mothers I’m leaving, or would it be better to skip out without saying goodbye? It might make the breakup easier if they think I’m rude like that.”

Kravitz agreed that not saying goodbye was probably for the best, and lead Taako out the front door. Outside it was dark and chilly, a relief after the warmth in the house. As soon as the door closed behind them Taako dropped his arm and Kravitz shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry about your job,” he said as they stood there awkwardly. It felt like there should be something he said, which was ridiculous. It hadn’t been an actual date, after all.

Taako shrugged. “I might be able to get it back. I’m sure Lup will vouch for me with the manager.”

Kravitz didn’t ask who Lup was, just nodded. “Well, I feel bad anyway. If you want I can transfer you some money for helping me out again tonight, make up for any wages you might have lost.”

Taako stared at him a moment, eyes narrowed, as if he wasn’t sure what to make of the offer.

“Well, buddy, under normal circumstances I would say no. Taako ain’t no cheap ho. But what I am is broke and probably jobless and you live here.” He gestured to the house and Kravitz winced. He didn’t want Taako to think he was some rich asshole. “So yeah, I think I might take you up on that bubeleh.”

“Alright, well I still have your email. I’ll send you a message.”

“I can’t wait to hear from you,” Taako said with a grin and a wink. Kravitz snorted. Now that he wasn’t drowning in his own anxiety, he thought it had been kind of fun to pretend to have a boyfriend for a night.

Taako waved by wiggling his fingers at Kravitz as he walked down the path to the front gate. Kravitz watched as he stepped off the path and rounded the house, towards the side of where the caterer trucks were parked. He was almost disappointed to see Taako go.

No use thinking like that, he reminded himself. After all, he was going to have to break up with Taako soon anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

Of all the places Taako had spent the holidays, the off-season vacation home of one of his professors was  one of the less weird ones. This was the third year he and Lup had been invited out to “Merlgaritaville” by their overly outgoing first year herbology prof. The guy liked to collect kids who didn’t have anywhere better to be, Taako figured.

“The party has arrived!” Taako said loudly as he and Lup let themselves into the cottage. 

Magnus, the huge football scholarship kid, was already on his feet and running towards them. Lup dropped her bag and jumped into him, letting him pick her up in a crushing hug. Taako ducked out of the way, tossing his bag down next to hers.

“I see we’ve got the whole breakfast club here,” he said, looking at the inhabitants of the front room. Lucretia was sitting on one of the worn in couches, laptop open in front of her like always. She looked up and smiled at Taako and Lup without ever pausing her perpetual typing. On the ground in front of her, playing some kind of board game that looked like an infinitely nerdier version of battleship, were Angus, the boy genius, and Barry Bluejeans, Lup’s boyfriend. Angus waved shortly before turning his overly attentive eyes back to the game, considering the multicoloured pegs. Barry got up from the coffee table and started towards them, no doubt planning on some kind of PDA. Davenport, one of the other professors and Merle’s maybe partner (after hanging out with this gang for almost four years Taako was still unsure), was sitting on a nearby chair reading some kind of adventure novel. Merle called out a greeting from the kitchen, just out of sight. Taako imagined him in one of his floral aprons mixing something. It was the same crowd as last year. All people Taako had never intended to make friends with, but sometimes these things just happen. 

“Been a while,” Magnus said, dropping his arm heavily onto Taako’s shoulders. Taako made like he was annoyed but when Magnus pulled him close he grinned in spite of himself.

“Yeah, yeah, big guy,” Taako said, trying to extract himself. “Let me take my shoes off first at least.” Magnus let him go and he caught sight of Barry scooping Lup into his arms and kissing her cheek. Taako made over the top gagging noises.

“Oh shut up,” Lup said, “you’re just jealous cause your boyfriend is only pretend!”

That got people’s attention. Lucretia looked up from her laptop again and this time the noise of her typing stopped. Magnus looked between them, confused. Angus, who was waiting for Barry to get back and take his turn, asked “How do you have a pretend boyfriend, sir?”

“Don’t you worry about it, Agnes,” Taako said as he leaned down to unzip his high heeled leather ankle boots.

“Oh, don’t think you’re getting out of this,” Lup said as she hung up her jacket and made her way into the front room. Taako resented the mischief in her voice. “I’m telling everyone this story. It’s pure gold.”

“What’re we talking about?” Merle called from the kitchen.

“Taako has a pretend boyfriend,” Davenport told him. He still hadn’t looked up from his book and Taako hadn’t been sure he was actually listening. As Taako walked towards the circle of couches that was the common room, Merle stuck his head out of the kitchen. Taako had been right, he was wearing a floral apron.

“He’s handsome as shit, too,” Lup said as she followed Taako, draping her arms over his shoulders. “And rich. How much did he pay you for your date, Ko?”

“You don’t have to make it sound like that,  Lulu ,” Taako said as he pushed away from Lup and dropped onto a couch. “If I was an escort I would have charged way more.”

“Hold on,” Lucretia said, “are we just talking about the fantasy craigslist guy? Cause we all heard about that.”

“Oh, Luce,” Lup said as she sat on the couch next to Lucretia, “you have no idea.”

News of Taako sending pictures to some guy to pretend to be his boyfriend had spread, of course. Things got around quick in their little gang, especially when it meant he, Lup and Magnus had gone on a fake-date photoshoot around the Neverwinter University campus and surrounding area. Taako had come across the add while trying to sell a textbook for a class that he wasn’t exactly finished with but he needed cash for Candlenights gifts more than he needed to read that boring shit before the final.  _ Pictures Needed, Nothing Weird  _ it had read, which had been wild enough to get Taako to click on it. The ad itself had been written like an official document, tone completely clashing with the content. Taako killed himself laughing at it.

_ Pictures needed to convince my mothers I am in a relationship so they refrain from trying to get me a boyfriend over the holiday break. Three or four should suffice, taken as if by a third party. Preferably in different outfits to appear as separate days. A payment of $20 will be transferred if the photos are acceptable. Please nothing inappropriate.   _

Taako loved a good disaster but he almost felt bad for the guy, he was almost certainly going to receive nothing but dick pics. He’d sent a screenshot to Lup to laugh at and she’d texted back  _ sounds perf for u. _ Taako had to admit that it did, so he sent the email with a particularly good selfie. After Kravitz had emailed back Taako and Lup put together some outfits, convinced Magnus to help carry them around and headed out. It had been a fun distraction from finals week, going to a couple cafés and parks, sitting across from Lup who took photos with her phone. Posing and modeling and wearing five excellent outfits in one day. By the end of it his face was raw from washing off makeup and applying different looks in public bathrooms but the result was a very convincing set of photos that Taako looked excellent in. He’d emailed off five of them, plus one from earlier that morning before he’d got ready. Lup had been messing around but Taako figured if Kravitz needed proof they were more serious or something that one would work. Plus he looked pretty hot in it, so what the hell. He’d got the $20 and bought some new nail polish and figured he’d never have to worry about that weird guy again.

Everyone knew that part of the story, but Lup wasted no time acquainting them with the rest of it. Taako busied himself with braiding his hair as she spoke, somewhere between annoyed and pleased. It was a pretty killer story, even he had to admit that. 

“Only you, Taako,” Lucretia said, shaking her head. “You’re lucky Lup covered for you.”

Taako scoffed. “Lucky she spread it around that I’d got food poisoning off an undercooked hors d'oeuvres?”

“Mild food poisoning, my dramatic baby brother,” Lup corrected.

“Everyone thought I was shitting for 40 minutes. That’s not great for this image,” Taako said, flicking the end of his braid over his shoulder.

“Better than what it would have looked like if you’d got fired from a catering job,” Lup pointed out. “I even told people that it wasn’t one of your hors d'oeuvres so they wouldn’t think you were a bad cook. You got your night out and no more black marks on that resume.” Lup shrugged and leaned back. “You’re welcome.”

“I mean, you did take off on your job so you could flirt with some handsome rich boy,” Merle said from the kitchen door, where he was trying, and failing, to look uninterested.

“He was very handsome,” Taako confirmed. “Ch’boy knows how to pick em.”

“Except you had no idea what he looked like before,” Lucrecia pointed out. Taako flapped his hand at her dismissively.

“Details, Luce. All I’m saying is that we were the best looking couple at the thing and I wasn’t even dressed up for it. If I had time to prepare we would have literally killed someone.”

“I hope not sir,” Angus said as he beat Barry in their game. “I would hate to have to report you.” He grinned to let on that he was joking.

“You’re a weird kid, Ango,” Taako said as he got up from the chair to join Merle in the kitchen. While it had been a fun adventure to pretend to be high class for a night, he kind of wished everyone would stop talking about it. All it did was remind him that it had been an experience he wasn’t about to repeat.

“Hey, Merle, how’re the kids?” He asked, leaning on the island between the common room and the kitchen. Merle grinned at him as the others carried on in some other conversation.

“Asking about my kids? You must really not want to talk about your pretend boyfriend, huh?” Merle said as he checked the oven before grabbing a bowl that was sitting on the counter. “They’re doing good. With their mother this year. I saw them just the other day though, and…”

“Yeah, hey, that’s great, what are you doing to those potatoes?”

Merle looked down into his bowl. “Adding basil,” he said.

“That’s not…” Taako grabbed an apron off the wall and tied it on, simultaneously using mage hand to steal the bowl away from Merle before he could do anything more horrific to the innocent potatoes. “Okay, for one these are just whole leaves you’re trying to mash in, which is never going to work. And two, is this even basil?”

“It came off my planter,” Merle said, gesturing to the selections of pots on the counter. Each looked like it was made by a four year old, with masking tape that was supposed to label what the herbs were, but that purpose was defeated by the fact that each looked like it was hosting multiple different plants at the same time. Taako pulled one of the squashed leaves out of the bowl of partially mashed potatoes and sniffed it.

“Yeah, Merle, I don’t know what that is but it ain’t basil. I think you’re just mixing some kind of weed in with our food.”

“Not even the fun kind?” Merle asked, taking a closer look at the leaf.

“Alright, get out of here. You’re lucky ol’ Taako is here to make your food actually edible.” Taako shooed Merle out of the kitchen. This happened more or less every time they came to Merlegaritaville because, though Merle insisted on cooking, he had a much more laissez-faire attitude towards food than what Taako was comfortable putting in his body. Once, he witnessed Merle pick what he was pretty sure was just a blade of grass out of one of his planters, look at it, shrug, and pop it into the gravy he was making. Taako couldn’t stand by and let those kinds of crimes happen.

As Taako worked early afternoon progressed towards evening. He had his work cut out for him trying to fix Merle’s culinary mess. After a while, Lup joined him and they moved around each other in the small kitchen with ease. It was only just starting to get dark when the two of them returned to the others, dropping onto a couch to the sound of applause.

“Thank you, thank you,” Lup said, bowing dramatically while Taako let his head fall onto the armrest. “The turkey just has to finish cooking and we should be good to go.”

“How long will that take?” Davenport asked as Magnus and Angus, used to the holiday routine, got up to set the table.

Taako shrugged. “We had to put it in last, but it’s got some spells working on it so it shouldn’t take longer than an hour or so.”

“Well that’s good,” Merle said. “Our final guests aren’t even here yet!”

At that everyone looked at Merle in surprise, even Davenport. It had only ever been the eight of them at these dinners. The last new person to come had been Angus when he got paired up with Magnus in a university mentorship program. Taako wasn’t particularly game for someone new crashing. He’d just barely started to get along with everyone who was already there.

“Who the fuck else is there?” Lup asked after a beat. Merle looked around at everyone, obviously confused.

“Didn’t I tell you?” he asked. No one responded. “Oh, well, Pan left a few gifts for his sister and her family with me before he headed south for Candlenights and I thought, if she’s stopping by to pick them up anyway, I’d invite them over.”

Pan was the dean of the university who got along with Merle unsettlingly well. No one should get on that well with their boss.

“Merle,” Davenport said slowly, “why didn’t you tell literally any of us about this?”

“I thought I did,” Merle said with a shrug. “Must have forgot.”

“Alright, wait,” Magnus asked with a handful of plates, “how many extra spots are we setting?”

Merle thought for a moment. “Three I think? It’ll be Pan’s sister, her wife and their kid.”

“There’s only room for eight places at the table,” Lucretia pointed out.

“I’m sure we can squeeze in some new places…” Magnus said, counting out three new plates from the cupboard. He carried them over to the table and considered it, shifting around some of the chairs.

“I don’t think we can, sir,” Angus said, standing beside Magnus with two fistfuls of cutlery.

“We’ll have to have a kids table,” Barry said, standing to help the reorganization efforts. “Merle do you have any small tables stashed away somewhere?”

Merle thought for a moment. “There’s the card table in the basement,” he suggested.

“Merle that thing weighs like 50 pounds and the top is all fuzzy,” Lup pointed out.

“It’s that or the coffee table,” Davenport said.

They looked at the coffee table, already strewn with cups and bowls of chips and veggies.

“I’ll bring the card table up,” Magnus said, leaving the plates for someone else. “We’ll just cover it with a tablecloth or something.”

“Do you own a tablecloth, Merle?” Lucretia asked. While Merle was thinking about it, Taako got up again and went into the kitchen to get himself a drink. He was not excited about this unexpected addition to their party.

Taako was pouring rum into his glass of eggnog when he looked out the window and noticed it was snowing. It wasn’t surprising, Merle’s vacation home was on a lake a few miles north of Neverwinter where, despite the name, they got heaps of snow every Candlenights. It hadn’t snowed a lot yet this year though, and these looked like the kind of big fluffy snowflakes that would accumulate and stay. Taako grimaced, he wouldn’t be able to wear his leather shoes anymore.

“Hey Ko?” Lup said from behind Taako, “You think you got enough rum in that?”

Taako stopped pouring, considering his glass. He shrugged. “Probably.”

“You just poured in at least three shots worth.”

Taako made eye contact with Lup and took a swig. It did taste far too much like rum, but he stopped himself from grimacing and giving her the satisfaction. She rolled her eyes.

“It’s not going to be that bad, Taako. We’ll make some small talk, Angus will have a kid to hang out with, they’ll leave, and we’ll get to make fun of them.”

Taako didn’t respond verbally, just made a face that he knew Lup would understand. He didn’t care about these people and he had actually started to like the weird, pseudo-family gatherings as they were. Adding new people would just throw everything off and make it uncomfortable. She sighed and turned him around to untie the apron he was still wearing.

“I know, I know, but I promise you it’ll be fine. Just try not to insult them to their faces, okay?”

“I’ll do my best,” Taako grumbled as Lup pulled the apron over his head and lead him back to the couches.

He watched, nursing his drink, as they draped the card table with a square of fabric Taako was pretty sure was supposed to be a curtain. Barry set three folding chairs around it and the others started moving the food from the kitchen to the table. Taako should have been involved to make sure none of the warming spells got messed up, but at that moment he didn’t care. Everyone else seemed to be trying their best to be impressive for these three outsiders, even Lucretia had put away her laptop and was helping set the table, arranging forks and knives to perfection as if it mattered. Taako sat and watched them, wondering what the big deal was. They usually left the food in the kitchen, getting up to grab what they wanted buffet style. They didn’t bother with more than paper towels for napkins but, somehow, Barry had found a box of fabric napkins and was placing one at every setting. Just because these people are related to the dean, Taako thought. What a stupid reason to make Candlenights all stiff and weird.

It was still snowing when Angus, watching out the front window, shouted “There’s a car coming up! I think it’s them!”

Taako groaned and took another drink. He shuddered and got up to add more eggnog. He needed to water down the ridiculous amount of rum. He was in the kitchen, definitely not hiding, when there was a knock on the door. He watched everyone else make their way to the front door, smiling and pretending to be welcoming. Taako decided it was a good time to check on the turkey. He tuned out the chatter and introductions being made at the front door. Maybe if he just ignored the interlopers they’d go away.

Lup’s slightly raised voice made it to him. “That’s weird, cause I don’t know why we’d ever meet!” She was saying with a laugh that was so high pitched Taako could tell it was forced. “Maybe you know my brother though, he’s in the kitchen.” Then she shouted, “Hey Taako, you’re gonna want to get in here!”

Taako sighed, straightened, and schooled his face into blank disinterest. He rounded the corner from the kitchen, determined that these people weren’t going to get as much as a smile from him.

When he got to the entryway, and saw who was standing there, he stopped dead in his tracks. A tall, glamourous woman was passing a red, feather-collared coat to Barry who was already holding a white fur coat and looking a bit bewildered. The woman smiled at Taako, brushing back her black hair with a mildly confused but excited expression.

“Taako!” Raven said, turning back to whack her son with one of the leather gloves she was holding, “Kravitz you should have told us your boyfriend was going to be here!”

The entire room paused a moment as Kravitz, half in the door and arms full of bags, made panicked eye contact with Taako. He was looking just as handsome as the other night, big fluffy snowflakes sparkling in his hair and on his black jacket, dark eyes and high cheekbones and mouth partially open in surprise. Taako didn’t know whether to curse his luck or praise it.

“Well, Raven,” Taako said, forcing his face to break into a wide smile, “he never told me either!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want yall to know that the blade-of-grass-in-the-gravy thing is 100% taken from my real actual life and is something I witnessed my cousin do one year on Thanksgiving. I hoped you guys enjoy this chapter even though it's mostly missing Kravitz and know that the fake-dating shenanigans begin in earnest in the next one which should be up next Friday! Thanks to everyone who's read and left kudos and comments so far, I'm having a lot of fun writing this fic so it means a lot to me that you guys are enjoying it!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Kravitz didn’t understand. His mothers had told him that they were going to Candlenights dinner with a work friend of Uncle Pan’s, which he hadn’t exactly thought would be fun, but he’d never thought it would get as weird as unexpectedly running into his pretend boyfriend. Again. How did this keep happening? Neverwinter was a bigger place than this, wasn’t it?

“Kravitz, darling how come you didn’t tell me you were coming?” Taako said, and once again Kravitz had to commend him on his dedication. It would have been more than easy for him to back out, Kravitz wouldn’t even have blamed him for it at this point. And yet, there he was, smiling at him in a way that looked only a little bit forced. He looked even more striking in his oversized, fuzzy holiday blue sweater and knit patterned tights than he had in his catering uniform. One side of the sweater was falling off, revealing a copper freckled shoulder. There was a moment where all Kravitz could think was that he looked good.

“Hey,” Kravitz said, straightening up and reaching for something, anything to say. In his panic all that came to him was the truth. “Um, I didn’t know you were going to be here.”

Taako laughed, sounding remarkably like his sister, and held a hand out. Kravitz looked around, there were no less than 10 people in the entryway, all staring at him and waiting to see what he would do. It was too crowded to get through to Taako easily, and he was still wearing his snowy boots, so he stayed in the entrance. “Just gimme a second,” he said, kicking the excess snow off his boots and looking around for a place to put down the bags he was carrying.  

“Oh, dear, let me take those,” Istus said, taking the bags. “We brought pie and wine, as a thank you for letting us intrude. Shall I put them in the kitchen?”

“Uh, yeah,” said the man who was standing awkwardly with his armful of coats. He was looking around desperately until he locked eyes with the elf woman who looked remarkably like Taako, his sister.

“Here, babe,” she said, taking a step over the piles of boots towards the man. “I’ll take those, you show—Istus, was it?—to the kitchen.”

“Ah, yeah, sure,” the man said, leading Istus out of the overcrowded entryway. The other woman, a young girl with dark skin and short white hair, shooed the big guy and the kid out of the way as the gnome lead Raven over to the small circle of couches that sat near the huge central fireplace. It was a large, if rustic, cabin. Not quite the largest Kravitz had ever been in, and the furniture was clearly old and worn, but it was comfortable in a way that his mothers friends cabins weren’t. There were kids drawings that were papering the walls that had clearly been put up with no conceivable plan and a haphazard pile of board games filling a shelf in the corner. He smiled around at all of it in spite of himself.

He’d been so busy looking around he hadn’t noticed that the entryway was basically empty till Taako was standing in front of him, hand on his hips, eyes narrowed.

“You stalking me, pretty boy?” Taako asked in a quiet voice. Kravitz looked around for anyone who might have heard, but the only person in range was his sister, hanging up his mothers coats on hooks already piled with other coats.

“No,” Kravitz said, looking back down to meet Taako’s eyes. “I honestly didn’t know you would be here. Mom just told us we were going to dinner with a friend of Uncle Pan’s, she didn’t give us any names. How would I have guessed that you were related to our professor?”

“Oh, we’re not related,” Taako said with a snort. “Merle just likes to collect kids like us.”

Before Kravitz could ask what that meant, the girl elf was standing beside Taako, looking Kravitz up and down.

“You gonna introduce me to your boy, Ko?” she said with her arms crossed. Kravitz had a moment of panic, thinking he’d have to be convincing not only to his parents but everyone else at the dinner too.

“Kravitz, this is my sister Lup,” Taako said, rolling his eyes. “Lup, as you already know, this is my pretend boyfriend Kravitz.”

Lup leaned forward till she was an inch away from Kravitz’s face. He leaned back out of instinct, glancing over her shoulder to Taako. “What’s happening?” he whispered.

“You hurt my boy,” Lup said, jabbing a finger into Kravitz’s chest, “I’ll fireball you till there’s nothing left.”

“God, Lup,” Taako said, shoving his sister out of the way.

“What?” Lup asked, grinning now that she wasn’t in Kravitz’s face anymore, “we gotta make it convincing, don’t we?”

Taako rolled his eyes again, shaking his head. “You don’t have to scare the poor boy,” he said. “This fool’s got no idea what he’s walked into.”

Lup shrugged. “Gotta warm him up for the sharks somehow,” she said, walking over to the circle of couches. Kravitz watched her go and saw that the entire population of the cabin were staring at the two of them now. He froze.

“Hey, handsome,” Taako said, bumping his elbow into Kravitz’s arm. He looked down at Taako, who was looking unimpressed. “You gonna greet me like a boyfriend or what?”

Kravitz opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Taako snorted, a small smile sprouting on his face.

“Gods, you’re hopeless. Just give me a kiss on the cheek or something so we can move out. It’s cold here.” Taako leaned forward and his body language was flirty, but his facial expression was vaguely annoyed. Kravitz mentally bit down on his anxiety and pulled Taako forward, kissing him on the cheek briefly. He pulled away with a start when he heard someone wolf whistle.

“Oh shut up Magnus,” Taako shouted. “He’s just jealous because his girlfriend wasn’t invited,” he continued, loud enough for the rest of them to hear now as he lead Kravitz towards the couches where everyone seemed to have gathered.

“She had to go home for the holiday,” the big man said, sighing dramatically. “I envy you your love.”

Taako kicked the man, Magnus, in the shins. Magnus’s only response was to grin and wink at Kravitz in a way that was anything but subtle. Kravitz wondered if everyone here knew about their secret. 

“So,” asked the man who Lup had called ‘babe,’ “are you going to introduce us to your boyfriend, Taako?” He was smiling in a knowing way. Kravitz came to the conclusion that yes, everyone else knew. 

Before Taako could respond they were interrupted by a dwarfish man coming into the room, pulling two folding chairs behind him. He had a prosthetic arm and looked vaguely familiar.

“Good news,” he exclaimed loudly, evidently not realizing that there were additions to the party, “I found some folding chairs for Angus and the other kid, oh,” he cut off when he noticed Taako and Kravitz standing there.

“Merle,” Taako said slowly, “I’d like to introduce you to Raven and Istus’s adult son and my  _ boyfriend,  _ Kravitz.” He paired his emphasis with a pointed look but poor Merle still looked like he didn’t quite understand.

“But I thought…”

“Here Merle,” Lup said, jumping up before Merle could say anything else, “why don’t I help you with those?” She took the chairs, leaning over to whisper in Merle’s ear as they walked towards the wall where the table was set and waiting. There was another, smaller table that was set up a little further away from the main table. It had one rickety wooden chair sitting at it already and Lup and Merle set up the folding chairs on two other sides, whispering the whole time. 

“Introduce yourselves,” Taako said, falling into the spot that Lup had just vacated, pulling on Kravitz to get him to sit on the arm of the couch next to him. “Everyone, this is Kravitz and we’re dating. There, I did my part.”

The human woman shook her head. “I’m Lucretia,” she said, gesturing to everyone in the circle as she said their names, “and this is Barry, Davenport, Angus and Magnus. You’ve already met Lup, and that’s Merle, this is his place.”

“Don’t you remember, Kravitz dear?” Istus asked him, “he was at Pan’s big barbecue last summer?”

Kravitz did remember, but not well. He’d spent most of that party trying to not get roped into playing croquet.

“Clearly he didn’t remember you, homie,” Taako said, nudging Kravitz in a way that was probably supposed to be playful, “he thought you were a kid. Already set your place at the kids table and everything.”

“I’m sure we can arrange for someone else to sit there,” Lucretia said, but Kravitz shook his head.

“Oh, no, if you’ve already decided on the seating arrangement, that’s really not a problem,” he said. The last thing he wanted was to be any trouble. Lucretia blinked in surprise for a moment, and Kravitz was sure he’d said the wrong thing. Taako chuckled, patting Kravitz on the knee. 

“In that case I’m sure you’ll want to sit at that table too, right Taako?” Barry said, barely suppressing a grin. Taako made a noise of protest, but caught himself and turned it into a cough.

“Oh, yeah, of course I want to sit with my boy,” he said, glaring daggers at Barry even as he reached up to rest an arm on Kravitz’s shoulder.

“It’ll give us a chance to get to know your family,” Raven said, winking at Barry.

Taako snorted, got up and said “Hey Krav, want a drink?”

“Oh, no,” Kravitz said, “I have to drive these two home later.” He gestured to his mothers, both already with glasses of wine in their hands.

Taako looked back over his shoulder at Kravitz and beckoned with a tilt of his head. Kravitz, understanding, jumped up and followed Taako into the kitchen.

“At least the kiddie table’ll give us a chance to chill on the relationship stuff,” Taako said as he grabbed a mostly full glass off the counter and took a swig from it.

“Sorry, about this,” Kravitz said, wringing his hands.

“Aint your fault,” he said with a shrug, having another drink. He got it down to about half full and poured some more rum and eggnog into it as he spoke. “Just thought we could use a moment to make sure we’re all on the same page about this.”

Kravitz nodded. “So your whole family knows?” Kravitz asked, looking back towards the sitting room. 

Taako shrugged. “Yeah, I mean they’re not really my family, except for Lup and I guess kind of Barry? But they know we’re not actually dating.” 

“I mean, I could just tell everyone the truth,” Kravitz said, feeling awful about roping Taako into further acting he probably wasn’t up to during his Candlenights dinner. But Taako waved the comment away.

“Don’t be ridiculous, this’ll be fun,” Taako said with a grin. “Besides, you need this to stop your moms from trying to set you up, right? Can’t let my boyfriend down.” Taako winked, and Kravitz blinked in surprise. Was he being legitimately flirted with?

“How’s the turkey going, babe?” Lup asked, leaning over the island that separated the kitchen from the dining area. Taako flicked the oven light on and crouched in front of the window, peering in on the bird cooking inside. It looked really good, Kravitz noted.

“Probably just about done,” Taako said, standing up again. “Is there room on your perfect table for it?” The way he said it made it sound like he wasn’t actually concerned with the table at all. Lup gave him a warning look before nodding.

“We left space,” she said. Then, smiling at Kravitz, said “we having a little strategy sesh?”

“Your man volunteered me to sit at the baby table,” Taako said, glaring at her. Lup laughed.

“It’ll give you time when you don’t have to act,” she said.

“As if that’s a problem,” Taako said, flipping his braid over his shoulder. “You know ch’boy’s a great actor.”

“Not if you keep downing rum like that,” Lup pointed out. Taako rolled his eyes.

“Ch’boy can also handle his alcohol,” Taako said, taking a pointed drink. Lup snorted, which was not reassuring.

“Get outta here,” Lup said, shoving her way past her brother. “I’ll take the turkey out of the oven.” She ruffled Taako’s hair as she pushed him out of the kitchen and he batted her hand away, looking over his shoulder briefly to stick his tongue out at her as he left.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Kravitz whispered as they made their way back to the rest of the group.

In response Taako grabbed onto Kravitz’s arm and leaned up like he was whispering something flirtatious in his ear. Instead he said “Don’t worry about it. We got this, bubeleh. Just follow my lead.” He dropped back down but stayed leaning into Kravitz’s side, grinning warmly at the rest of the party as they returned to the couches.

They only had to make small talk for a few more minutes before Lup came out of the kitchen with a tray and called out “Foods ready!” The group all stood and went to the tables. 

“You’re doing great,” Kravitz said as he and Taako sat at the kids table.

“You’re not doing too bad yourself, my man,” Taako said.

“You two are doing alright,” the kid Angus said as he sat across from Taako. It was incredible, Kravitz was sure he’d never met a kid who acted this much like an adult. But there Angus was, in a small brown suit jacket, looking at Taako seriously through his round glasses. “It’s obvious, to anyone who really pays attention that the two of you have just met.”

“You think a lot of things are obvious, Agnes,” Taako said, flicking his empty fork at Angus like a kid starting a food fight.

“What do you mean?” Kravitz asked Angus, worried about being caught in a lie by his mothers.

“Just the way you don’t really talk about each other,” Angus said. “It’s clear that the two of you don’t know answers to questions you should.”

Taako rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ango. We’re doing just fine.”

“Still, it might not be a bad thing to get some of our stories straight,” Kravitz said in a low voice. He shouldn’t have worried about the other table overhearing, they were too busy chatting as they passed around food dishes.

Taako sighed. “Fine, here’s all you need to know about ol’ Taako: he’s handsome and charming, he’s in his fourth year in transmutation, and you’re lucky to have him.”

Kravitz frowned as Barry started to pass Taako the dishes from the main table. “Shouldn’t I know some other stuff too? Like, where did you grow up? What do your parents do?”

Taako shook his head. “Trust me, handsome, even if we really were dating, you still wouldn’t know those things.” He passed the bowl of mashed potatoes with a wink. “Gotta keep up the air of mystery. I don’t do backstory.”

Kravitz frowned, not really satisfied, but he wasn’t about to press Taako for information he wasn’t willing to give. He let the conversation drop as they served themselves food and took the first few bites. Kravitz was impressed by how good it was.

“This is incredible,” he said, dragging a bit of turkey through a pool of gravy on his plate.

“Natch,” Taako said, looking proud. “It would have been better if we’d had more time, but it was made by yours truly, so of course it’s good.”

“You did all of this?” Kravitz was impressed. It was so much food, he thought Taako might have helped with some of it, but all?

“Hell yeah homie, this meal’s a Taako special!”

“I heard that,” Lup shouted over the conversation from the bigger table. Taako grinned.

“All right, all right, a Taako and Lup special,” he amended.

“Taako, that’s really impressive,” Kravitz said earnestly.

“You didn’t think all I did was skip out on serving jobs, did ya?” Taako said. “Ch’boy’s gonna be a world-famous chef someday.”

Kravitz laughed. “I believe it.”

“So,” Taako said, leaning forward with his chin in his palm and a carrot dangling off his fork, “what do you do? Let’s hear your story.”

Kravitz nearly choked at the volume Taako was talking at. “They’ll hear you,” he said, gesturing towards the other table. “And besides, I thought you didn’t do backstory.”

Taako rolled his eyes. “They’re all busy, no one ever pays attention to what goes on at the kids table. And I don’t do  _ my  _ backstory, but you bet your ass I’m interested in yours.”

Kravitz laughed shortly. “Um, alright. Well, I’m graduating next semester and going into a masters of political science, right now I’m doing a poli-sci and art history double major, and I’m planning on maybe going into law or…”

“Wow, you are such a nerd,” Taako interrupted, shaking his head. “I’m not interested in your resume, Krav. What do you, like, do? Like for fun?”

“Um,” for a moment Kravitz really wasn’t sure how to answer that. “I play the French horn?”

There was a beat where Taako just stared at him, eyes wide. Then he burst into laughter. It was different from the laughter Kravitz had heard from him before, that had been high pitched an airy, but this was a full-bodied laugh, loud and honest, and it shook his whole body. Kravitz watched in awe as he leaned on the table, almost doubling up in his chair with the force of his laughter.

“What?” he asked finally, laughing along with Taako in spite of the fact that he was pretty sure he was the one being laughed at.

“Sorry,” Taako said, his laughter dying down finally, “I just wasn’t expecting something so incredibly gothic and dorky, but at the same time I totally did.”

“You did?”

“My man, my dude,” Taako said, putting a hand on Kravitz’s shoulder like he was about to break a hard truth, “you’re wearing little skull earrings.”

The dinner was excellent and Kravitz liked actually talking to Taako. He was an interesting person, even if he did refuse to talk about himself more or less. Angus was interesting too, he was a brilliant kid and was clearly trying to sound his most grown up when talking to Kravitz. After dinner the party reconvened at the couches, all commenting on how excellent the food was. Taako was preening from all the compliments, smiling smugly as he settled down next to Kravitz.

Things went well after that. Taako smiled and flirted and joked, the picture of a wonderful boyfriend. He kept one hand on Kravitz almost constantly, either his leg, his arm or around his shoulders. It was a little awkward at first but he relaxed into the ruse after a while. Taako’s friends were friendly and easy to talk to, no matter how much Lup tried to intimidate him. Lucretia asked him easy-to-answer questions about himself and Magnus would spin his answers off into entertaining stories about their hijinks at the college, some of which Kravitz couldn’t believe were true.

“You crashed a drag race?” Kravitz repeated, looking down at Taako with surprise. Taako smiled at the memory.

“Hell yeah, first year was wild,” Taako said, nodding.

Kravitz laughed. “Why?”

“Gods, I can’t remember,” Taako said, waving away the question. “Do you Magnus?”

Magnus shrugged. “I think Hurley was trying to prove something to Sloane, wasn’t she?”

“Well they’ve been together ever since, so it worked,” Taako said. “What a way to get someone’s attention.”

“I’ve heard of weirder,” Barry said into his mug of apple cider, not quietly enough for it to go unnoticed by Magnus, sitting right beside him. Magnus laughed while Kravitz wondered what Barry had meant. 

“Speaking of which,” Raven said, leaning forward on the couch she and Istus were sharing, away from whatever conversation they had been having, “I don’t think I’ve heard the story of how you two met from your side, Taako.”

Taako’s grip on Kravitz’s arm turned sharp, his long nails pressing into Kravitz’s sweater even as he laughed good naturedly at Raven. Kravitz had never told Taako what he’d told his mothers about how they had got together. There was no way he was going to answer this properly.

At that moment, as if on cue, Angus, who was standing at the front window, shouted “Sorry, everyone, but I think we might have a problem!” 

“What is it kiddo?” Merle asked, getting up to see what Angus was seeing. Magnus got up too, and when he and Merle got up to the window he turned back and said “You guys, you’re gonna want to see this.”

The party went up to look at the windows. Taako stayed sitting but Kravitz got up and joined the growing crowd around the front window. It had been snowing all day, they’d seen bright flashes of snowflakes against the dark of the night in the windows. But looking out the front, seeing how the snow had piled up around the cars and the steps and the front door, revealed something Kravitz hadn’t even thought of.

“What’s going on?” Taako shouted from the couches.

“We’re snowed in babe,” Lup shouted back. “It’s like three feet deep, all the cars are buried.”

Kravitz looked back and made eye contact with Taako. There was no way they could leave tonight. They’d all be trapped there until they could shovel everything out. Kravitz remembered the five minute long drive down the driveway up to the cottage and wondered if it would be faster to wait for the snow to melt.

“Well, darling,” Taako said to Kravitz, pursing his lips, “would you like that drink now?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a bit late cause I was super busy yesterday but it's here now! I hope you guys like it, we're starting to get into the real fun of it. I'm about halfway through the next chapter but my holidays are almost over, which ironically will mean I'll have more time to write so I'm still gonna try to get it done for next Friday!! I'm really gonna try to keep on schedule with this fic. Thanks so much for all the amazing comments!! It really keeps me excited about this to know that people like it and want to keep reading it!!!


	4. Chapter 4

It was decided that there was definitely way too much snow for Kravitz’s family or anyone for that matter to leave that night. But that was fine, Merle assured everyone, because he had approximately a million spare rooms. And this would have been fine, except for the fact that everyone expected Taako and Kravitz to share one of those rooms.

“That’s really, not necessary,” Kravitz said as soon as it was suggested. “I can just stay in my mothers room, or on the couch or something…”

“Kravitz, dear,” Raven said with a laugh, “there’s no need for that, you can spend the night with your boyfriend.”

“He is so modest, isn’t he?” Taako said, standing behind Kravitz with his arms crossed. He was smiling at the back of Kravitz’s head for show. In reality he didn’t really want to share his room with Kravitz, he and Lup usually shared that room when they stayed over. But, then again, she was probably going to stay in Barry’s room anyway. They were disgusting like that.

Kravitz tried to argue a little more, but Taako knew that if they were going to have to keep up the pretense of being in a relationship for the next few days they were going to have to share a room eventually. At least the snow had distracted everyone from asking how the two of them had got together or any other difficult questions. Taako eventually shut Kravitz up by leading him away from the conversation towards the kitchen saying “Don’t worry about it too much, babe, it’ll be fine.”

They got to the kitchen as the rest of the guests started talking about which room the rest of them would be staying in. The usual gang already had regular rooms so it was really only a matter of deciding where Istus and Raven would stay.

“I’m really sorry about all of this,” Kravitz said as Taako opened the cupboard looking for a glass. “I never expected it to go this far, and really, if you’re at all uncomfortable-”

“Krav, listen buddy,” Taako said, turning towards him, “if you want this to work you _have_ to stop doing this. You gotta be committed to the bit, my guy. Cause if you’re not they’re going to be able to tell that something’s up. Now, me,” he grinned, “I’m in this for the fun of it, you don’t gotta sweat it so much. If I stop having fun, I’ll be the first to let you know, believe me. So just take a breath, chill out, and enjoy the ride for the next couple days.” He leaned back, elbows resting on the counter behind him and shrugged. “Or get off now, if you wanna, but make a decision either way. No more of this back and forth, alright?”

They were both silent for a moment, and Taako was worried Kravitz was going to say “actually, fuck you” or something to that effect and go tell everyone the truth. Which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, probably, but maybe Taako was having  more fun than he’d like to admit with this charade. But Kravitz just sighed and nodded, rubbing the bridge of his nose briefly.

“Okay, yeah, you’re right. If this is going to work we both need to be in it.”

“That’s the spirit!” Taako said, pushing off the counter and heading towards the drinks cupboard. “Now, did you want a drink or what? Might help you loosen up a little. I promise I’m not the only one who can tell you’re crazy stressed.”

“Maybe just a small one,” Kravitz said, stepping up behind Taako to look into the cupboard.

Taako’s back warmed from his presence and Taako hoped his ears weren’t as flushed as they felt. It didn’t hurt matters, after all, that Kravitz was one of the most attractive men Taako had ever seen.

Taako fixed Kravitz a drink just as Lup came into the kitchen saying that everyone had remembered the dessert that was almost forgotten after they’d stuffed themselves at dinner. She pulled the two pies Istus had brought out of the oven where they were warming while Taako grabbed a can of whipped cream out of the fridge and a handful of clean forks from the drawer, directing Kravitz to the right cupboard to grab a stack of little plates. They brought it all out to the dining room table where Magnus and Angus were already waiting with anticipation.

The pies were excellent, homemade instead of store bought like Taako had feared. He talked to Istus about her recipe as Magnus tried to talk Angus into letting him spray whipped cream directly into the kid’s mouth. Even Kravitz started to relax more, letting out a real laugh for once when Angus, standing on a chair with the can of whipped cream, intentionally missed Magnus’s open mouth to get it on his forehead and nose. Magnus laughed as Angus jumped off the chair, scooped a handful of cream off his face and whipped it at Angus, who ducked. The cream ended up in Lup’s face and hair and for a few minutes all three of them were running after each other, using whipped cream like projectiles. It ended with Angus on Lup’s shoulders as she sat on Magnus’s back to hold him down. Merle, Barry and Lucretia didn’t even look up from their conversation.

“Are they always this lively?” Istus asked Taako with a smile. He snorted.

“Oh, constantly,” he said.

The party eventually started to wind down and, as it got later, people started to peel off and head to their separate bedrooms. First was Angus, protesting the entire time Lucretia lead him away that he wasn’t even tired despite rubbing his eyes and yawning all the way down the hall. He was, after all, only eleven. An hour or so after that Istus decided that it was time Raven, who had been talked into letting Merle mix her a drink, got to bed. The entire time they were leaving Raven was winking and flapping her hands encouragingly towards Kravitz, which made Taako laugh. They weren’t a boring family, that was for sure.

“Well, this was a Candlenights to remember, that’s for sure,” Merle said as they left.

“How long do you think it’ll be before we can get out, Merle?” Lucretia asked. Merle shrugged, unconcerned.

“Well, it’ll probably take at least a day to shovel out the driveway itself, and then there’s the matter of trying to start the actual cars…”

He continued to talk about the logistics of getting un-snowed in but Taako didn’t bother to pay much attention. He had had quite a bit to drink himself and he found himself zoning out, staring up at Kravitz’s jawline. It was profoundly unfair that such an incredible jawline could be found in a man who also possessed one of the best pairs of cheekbones Taako had ever seen. Who got off giving Kravitz a face like that? It should be illegal.

Taako was brought back to attention by Lup snapping her fingers just in front of Taako’s nose. He jumped a little and glared at his sister, who gestured over her shoulder to her boyfriend.

“Taako? You with us?” Barry asked. Taako rolled his eyes like he hadn’t just been lost in his own thoughts.

“Yeah, Barold, I’m right here. What?”

“I was just saying, you know Raven and Istus are gone now, right? You two don’t have to be all boyfriendy.”

Taako looked up and realized that yes, he had curled himself up against Kravitz’s chest and Kravitz had one arm draped around his shoulders. He hadn’t even realized they had cuddled up like that but he sat up straight, Kravitz removing his arm, and put a little distance between the two of them. His side felt suddenly cold.

He let himself lean towards the other side of the couch, now using Lup as a pillow instead of Kravitz. “Sorry about that, bubeleh, guess I got caught up in the act.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I didn’t even realize,” Kravitz said, scootching over a little towards the other end of the couch.

“Yeah, you’ve seemed to really loosen up since we had desert, Krav,” Merle said with a completely inappropriate wink. “Need another drink to help with that?”

“Hey, you crusty old man,” Taako said, kicking at Merle who was sitting across from him, “stop trying to hit on my pretend boy!” Merle grinned and winked at Taako instead, who made a show of acting disgusted.

“Speaking of your pretend relationship,” Lucretia said, wobbling a little as she sat up in her chair, “you two should really coordinate better. When Raven asked Taako about how you two got together I could tell you were distressed, Kravitz.” Lucretia always sounded like she was about to write an essay when she was drunk.  

“Yeah, I guess we should come up with a story about that, huh Krav?” Taako said.

“I mean, I did already tell my moms a story about how we got together,” he said.

Taako sat up, looking seriously at Kravitz. This changed the game. “Please,” he said, “please tell me we didn’t meet through, like, friends or some bullshit.”

Kravitz pulled a face. “I told them we met because we were in the same study hall and you asked if you could sit at my table, and we started talking.”

Taako closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. It was alright, he could fix this. “How long ago did you say this happened?”

“Um, I didn’t really give them a time frame, I mean we’ve only been dating for about a month, so…”

“Okay, here’s the story,” Taako said, holding his arms out for silence and attention. “This happened right before we started dating, none of that slowburn shit. I came and sat beside her cause I thought you were hot, and you thought I was gorgeous, because obviously. And then I wrote my number on your notes.”

“I mean, I would have been using my laptop,” Kravitz said. He was leaning back, eyebrows furrowed like he was trying to really take in everything Taako was saying.

“Krav, baby,” Taako said, “you really gotta learn to go with the fiction. This is ‘yes and’ time.”

“You didn’t write your number on his notes,” Lup said, joining in, “but you said you were in the same class and you two should meet up later to discuss like, the final paper or something.”

“I was definitely lying,” Taako said. He turned back to Lup, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. “He’s a poli-sci art-something double major, did you know that?”

“Art history,” Kravitz said.

“Ha,” Lup said, leaning back into Barry’s chest, “you’re dating a nerd!”

“Rich coming from you,” Taako retorted. Lup just stuck her tongue out at him and then bent her head around so she could kiss Barry. Taako made exaggerated gagging noises and turned back to Kravitz.

“Anyway,” he said, “I made it sound like we were going on a study date, but then when you showed up we went to like…” he trailed off, at a loss for what people did on dates. It’d been a while.

“One of those wine and pottery places,” Magnus suggested. Taako gave him a surprised look, he hadn’t even known that Magnus was listening, but he was leaning forward in his seat paying rapt attention.

“Yeah, sure,” Taako said, “that’s not a bad idea, Mango. It was called, ah, the Chug ‘n Squeeze,”

“That can not be a real place,” Barry interrupted. Taako shrugged. Getting bogged down in details like that was for other people.

“Your boy definitely didn’t realize it was a date at first,” Lup said. She was leaning forward now, resting her chin on Taako’s shoulder so she could look over at Kravitz. She always got restless when she was drinking. “I can tell about you, Ghost Rider, you would definitely be totally clueless until Taako told you straight up it was a date.”

“Ghost Rider?” Kravitz asked. In response Lup reached forward and poked at his skull earrings.

“Perfect,” Taako said, clapping his hands together once. “We’ve got ourselves a story with some flair, at least. I would have preferred something with meeting eyes across a crowded ballroom, but this works too. You think your moms’ll buy it?”

Kravitz shrugged like he wasn’t too worried about that at the moment. “Yeah, I mean I’m sure it’ll be fine."

“You guys are hopeless,” Lucretia said, shaking her head. “You’re gonna get caught, and then what?”

Taako shrugged. “If it starts getting to hard we can always stage a breakup,” he said, grinning at Kravitz.

“How do we do that?” Kravitz asked.

“With lots of drama,” Taako said with a flourish he lost control over halfway through and ended up smacking Lup in the face. There was a brief struggle that resulted in her pushing him off the couch and spreading out over his spot so he couldn’t sit there anymore.

“My brother loves unnecessary drama,” She said, looking up at Kravitz.

“Fuck yeah,” Taako said, getting up off the floor and starting towards the kitchen for some water. “Makes life interesting. If there’s one thing ch’boy can’t stand, it’s boring.”

The party didn’t manage to last long after that. It was late, Taako wasn’t sure how late, but late enough that even the last of them started heading off to bed. Eventually even Lup and Barry left like traitors and there was no one else to stand in as an excuse to not go to bed yet.

When Taako flipped the light on for the room he and Lup usually shared he was faced with an issue he hadn’t even considered.

“There’s only one bed,” Kravitz said.

“Yeah, I’m seeing that too,” Taako said. When he and Lup claimed this room almost three years ago they did it because a lot of the other rooms had two single beds and they didn’t mind sharing, they almost preferred it back then. They’d stuck with the same room every other time they’d come and ended up spending the night, which was more and more often as the years went on. Lup had only started dating Barry recently after years of both of them being hopeless and not talking to each other about it even though it was obvious to literally everyone else that they liked each other. This would have been the first visit to Merlgaritaville that Taako would have the bed to himself.

“I can take the floor,” Kravitz suggested. Taako shook his head.

“Don’t be stupid, do you know how cold this floor gets? The bed is huge,” he said, already pulling open the dresser that he and Lup kept stocked with clothes that they couldn’t agree on the original owner of. “Here, I’ve got some pyjama pants so you don’t have to sleep in your suit or whatever.”

When he turned back around Kravitz was looking down at himself, and then back up to Taako confused. “They’re just dress pants,” he said. “I’m not in a suit.”

Taako shrugged. In his world dress pants and a button-up shirt was close enough to a suit, but it worked on Kravitz.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go get an extra blanket, you can get changed when I’m out.” Taako said, tossing Kravitz the pyjama pants before leaving the room.

Taako came back from the linen closet with an extra comforter and when he opened the door Kravitz was standing beside the bed with the pyjama pants on and no shirt.

“Oh,” Taako said, shutting the door behind him. “Uh, sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kravitz said, turning around. He was folding his dress pants, but Taako was distracted by the sight of Kravitz’s chest. Apparently he’d been hiding a set of pretty distracting abs under that dark purple shirt. “Do you have a tshirt I could borrow?”

Taako opened his mouth but for a moment no sound came out.

“You good?” Kravitz asked.

“Sorry, bubaleh, got a little distracted by this whole situation,” Taako waved a hand in Kravitz’s general direction. “Didn’t expect you to be buff, handsome.”

“Oh, yeah,” Kravitz said, laughing slightly. “The gym relaxes me.”

Taako hmmed as he opened his dresser drawer and pulled out two oversized tshirts. He decided he was just going to sleep in his tights. “Weird, but good results,” he said as he tossed Kravitz one of the shirts. It was almost a crime to cover up what he had going on but Taako needed to keep things professional. Taako changed out of his sweater and passed the second comforter to Kravitz. “Here, I’m a notorious blanket hog. Lup complains about it all the time.”

“Thanks,” Kravitz said, getting into the bed. Taako got the light and curled up under the blanket that had already been in the room. His back was turned towards Kravitz whose breathing went slow and even after a few minutes. Taako just laid there for a while, unable to fall asleep as he tried to not think about the presence in the bed next to him and how aware he was of the empty space between them.

When Taako woke up he had a headache, which was momentarily forgotten when he found himself staring straight at Kravitz’s face. It was relaxed with sleep, his mouth slightly open. Taako noticed that he had thick, long eyelashes that flashed gold in the short rays of sunlight forcing their way through the crack in his curtains. He rolled over and forced himself out of bed.

In the kitchen Taako started making coffee and thinking about what to do for breakfast. The amount of snow he could see out the kitchen window did not look promising.

“Hey,” someone said behind him. Taako turned around to see Kravitz there. His locs had fallen mostly out of the bun he had put them up in the night before and he was rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Hey, sleepy,” Taako said. “You want a coffee?”

Kravitz nodded. “Is no one else up yet?”

Taako shook his head as he pulled a mug from the cupboard. “Nah, it’s only like eight. They’ll all be in bed for a while I bet.”

“Eight?” Kravitz repeated, accepting the mug of coffee. Taako gestured towards the cream and sugar that was still on the counter from when he had gone through the long process of making Merle’s bitter drip coffee drinkable, but Kravitz ignored it, putting his mug down on the counter. “Taako, we went to bed at like two in the morning. Why are you up so early?”

Taako shrugged. “I usually get up earlier for work, honestly. It’s rough but my body’s come to accept this cruel fate.” He didn’t say anything about needing to get away from Kravitz’s stupid handsome face.

“Your work for the catering company?”

“Nah, that’s just seasonal. I work at a coffee place during the semester. The hours are god awful.”

Kravitz frowned and took a drink from his mug, made a face at it, and put it down again. “That must be hard to balance with school,” he said.

Taako shrugged. “Well, we can’t all have our moms pay our tuition for us, can we?”

He’d meant it more as a joke but it must have come out harsher than he’d intended because Kravitz winced and looked down. “Yeah, I guess I have it pretty easy compared to a lot of people,” he said.

“Hey, no need to feel bad about it,” Taako said with a shrug. “It’s probably not your fault you’re loaded and like, I’m usually all for eating the rich or whatever but you guys seem pretty cool.” He didn’t tell Kravitz that when he’d got to Raven and Istus’s house the first time he’d considered swiping some cutlery. “Y’all are definitely way classier than anyone I hang out with, but you’re not dicks about it, yknow?”

“We’re classy?” Kravitz asked, and Taako rolled his eyes. Rich people were always like this, in his experience. Even when they weren’t total assholes they never understood how rich they were. They had a complete lack of understanding of the class difference between them and him.

“You thought we had a straight up seating arrangement last night,” Taako said, giving Kravitz a pointed look. “Like this was a wedding or some shit.”

"I didn’t really think that,” Kravitz started to say.

“Yeah you did, homie.”

Kravitz laughed. “Alright, I guess it’s not that weird for my family to just have name tags on seats, but not anything super fancy.”

Taako wasn’t convinced. That sounded like the definition of super fancy to him.

Before he could say anything else Merle staggered into the room, still half asleep by the looks of it.

“What’re you two doing up?” he asked, rubbing at his face.

“Could ask you the same thing,” Taako responded.

Merle shrugged. “Got a call back from someone about the roads,” he said. “They said it’ll be at least three days for them to get out here and plow the main road, sounds like all of Neverwinter got totally buried.” Merle reached for the half full pot of coffee, taking a drink directly from it. “You think we got enough food to last us that long, kid?”

Taako sighed, running a hand through his tangled hair and wondering if they could really keep up this charade that long. “I’ll make it last,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heard that Kravitz had an 8-pack. That Kravitz was shredded. 
> 
> Nah but seriously, sorry for the super late chapter but between massive travel delays, sickness and the theater owning the soul of my beta it's been a crazy week. I hope you guys like it! I'm trying to pick up on the action in the next few chapters and hopefully, barring anymore disasters, I'll be back on a more even posting schedule soon. Thanks so much for all the comments and kudos so far, they sustain my life!


	5. Chapter 5

What Taako and Lup could do with limited resources was truly impressive. They’d found an almost full carton of eggs in Merle’s fridge and rationed out the leftovers from the huge dinner the night before and even with the little they had they managed to feed everyone in the cottage a satisfying and delicious breakfast.

“Hell yeah,” Lup said when Kravitz complimented them on their efforts, “Me and Ko know how to make a little food go a long way, so we’re definitely not going to starve at least.”

Before Kravitz could ask what she meant Davenport stood on a chair near the table and clapped his hands together once. Everyone, who by that time had woke up and were scattered around the front room eating, looked over at him.

“Alright, everyone,” he said, “it’s going to take a group effort to get us dug out of this situation. Merle and I went out to assess while breakfast was being prepared and there’s about three feet of snow from here all the way out to the street. The first step is, clearly, shoveling enough of that out of the way to allow our cars to reach the street when the plows get here. There’s eleven of us, so we should be able to get it done today if we all work at it.”

“It shouldn’t snow any more either,” Merle said. “When we went out earlier it was warming up.”

“I hope it doesn’t rain,” Kravitz murmured. Taako, sitting beside him, put his head down on the table.

“Fuck,” Taako groaned, “have you seen how long that driveway is?”

“There’s like a million of us, T,” Lup said, “it’s not even gonna take us that long.”

“I know but like…” Taako sighed into the table, and then sat up excitedly. “Oh!” He exclaimed, “I can’t help with the shoveling, I only have my little leather booties,” he had turned in his seat to address Merle and Davenport. “Can’t go out into the snow with those, my dudes.”

“Oh,” Magnus said helpfully, “I left an old pair of snow boots here last year, you can wear those!”

Kravitz could feel Taako tense up beside him. “Gee, thanks buddy,” Taako said, glaring at Magnus’s back as he got up to go look in the front closet, completely oblivious to the scorn in Taako’s voice. Lup snorted and patted Taako’s back as she got up from the table.

“I’m sure it’ll only take a few hours,” Kravitz said, trying to be helpful. Taako sighed, leaning his head sideways onto Kravitz’s shoulder. Kravitz smiled down at Taako as he wrapped his arm around him. It was so easy to be comfortable with him. Kravitz wasn’t usually as physical with his friends but Taako was all about little touches. Kravitz had noticed him like this with his other friends too, wrapping his arms around Magnus’s shoulders from behind while they talked, hip checking Barry when passing him, sitting directly on Lup. It was so easy for him, and he made it almost too easy for Kravitz to respond the same way. There was something about him, and Kravitz wouldn’t have been able to accurately say what, but at that moment the best explanation he had was that it felt like he’d known Taako forever.

Davenport made sure that they didn’t waste time getting ready to go outside. He was a great organizer and had them all ready to go much faster than Kravtiz would have expected. Especially since there were eleven people, most of whom were college students, and a small entryway that let no more than three people get suited up comfortably at a time. Still, it was less than 10 minutes before most of them were all ready and out.

Taako delayed leaving the house as long as he could, but after Angus and Lucretia had been sent out the door, Davenport called Taako and Kravitz over. Taako sighed dramatically and trudged reluctantly to the entryway, aggressively shoving his feet into Magnus’s boots.

“These are too big for me,” he complained. Kravitz just smiled good humouredly and passed Taako his jacket when he pointed it out. They were soon ready to face the cold, Taako tossing him a knit hat and gloves from a bucket filled with assorted winter supplies that stood by the front door. It wasn’t as cold outside as it had been the night before, and the snow had finally stopped. The amount of snow, however, was shocking.

Magnus had gone to a shed behind the cottage and brought out an enormous collection of shovels, some for snow and some for dirt. There were three dirt shovels left leaning against the railing of the patio and everyone except for Davenport, Raven and Istus, who were still inside, were already shoveling away. Angus, with a small kid-sized shovel, was clearing off the patio itself.

“They got you working too, bubeleh?” Taako said, grabbing one of the shovels and leaning on it lazily.

“We’ve all got to work together to get the job done, sir!” Angus said. He smiled up at Taako, looking even more like a little kid in his bright orange snow pants and puffy blue coat.

“Yeah, and there’s certainly a lot to do,” Taako said. He pulled Angus’s hat off, ruffled his hair, and then forced the hat back on his head. Angus, giggling, pulled the hat on properly.

“Hey! Ko!” Lup shouted from the clear spot she’d made near the cars. “You going to join in or what?”

“Yeah, yeah!” Taako shouted back, flipping her off. She returned the gesture before going back to heaving huge shovelfuls of snow into the trees that lined the driveway.

“Come on, Taako,” Kravitz said, going down the patio stairs. Taako followed him reluctantly.

Magnus was working on clearing a pathway all the way down one side of the drive and Barry, Lucretia and Merle were staggered out along it, making dents into the mounds of snow. Merle could barely be seen above the snow and had to heave the shovel above his head to dump it out of the driveway. Kravitz found a spot just past Lucretia while Taako stayed back, sticking closer to the patio. 

The longer they were out there the colder it got. Kravitz had cleared away a decent amount of snow, but was pausing every so often to blow into his cold hands. The dirt shovel wasn’t ideal for shoveling snow, but it worked well enough that he had made decent progress by the time Raven came up to him an hour or so later.

“Hey mom,” he said, leaning on the shovel to take a break.

“Doing well I see,” Raven said, smiling in a familiar and mischievous way.  Kravitz frowned, wondering what his mother was up to now.

“Um, yeah, it’s going alright,” he said. “What’s up?”

“We were just looking for some more shovels,” Raven said, motioning back to where Istus was standing on the patio. “Lup was saying there might be some around that side of the house.” Raven motioned to one side of the house and Kravitz nodded.

“Want me to go get them for you?” Kravitz asked.

Raven smiled. “Would you dear? We’d love to help, but there aren’t any shovels left.”

Kravitz nodded and headed in the direction Raven pointed him in. She followed him and, as they rounded the house, she pointed out a treehouse, dangerously high up a huge old tree with a rope ladder hanging down from the bottom.

“Lup said they were up there,” Raven said, and Kravitz frowned.

“Are you sure? There’s a shed right over there.”

“No, she definitely said tree house, the ones from the shed are all being used,” Raven said. “I’ll get out of the way and you can just drop them down to the ground.”

That sounded like a weird place to keep a bunch of shovels, but Kravitz figured it wasn’t his place to judge. He shrugged and climbed the rope ladder, popping his head into the treehouse. But, instead of shovels, he found himself faced with Taako, sitting on the treehouse floor and reading a kids book.

“Hey handsome,” Taako said, looking up. “You avoiding work too?”

“Uh, no,” Kravitz said, pulling himself all the way into the treehouse, “I was told there were more shovels up here?”

Taako made a face. “Why would we keep shovels in a treehouse? What kind of dumb storage system is that?”

Kravitz realized what was happening too late. He turned and looked back down the hole in the bottom of the treehouse floor and there were Raven and Lup standing at the base of the tree. Before he could react, Lup cast mage hand and unhooked the rope ladder from its hooks. Kravitz watched it fall to the snow below, trapping them. Lup gave him a cheery wave and Raven laughed.

“What is she doing?” Taako asked, coming up beside Kravitz and looking down. “I can cast both levitate and feather fall, we can just leave.”

“I think they’re teasing us,” Kravitz said.

“Hmm…” Taako put his arm around Kravitz and stuck his tongue out at his sister. Then he turned around and sat back down on the floor, picking up the book again.

“What’re you doing?” Kravitz asked, looking at him. “I thought you said we could leave?”

Taako shrugged. “Of course we could leave. I do have magic powers, bubeleh,” he said. “But I came up here to avoid doing work, and if we go down they’ll make me do more shoveling.” He looked back down at the book. “Taako’s good up here.”

Kravitz stood there looking at him for a moment before giving up and sitting down next to Taako. “Is that a Caleb Cleveland book?”

Taako looked over at him with confusion. “You know the kid’s books?”

“Yeah, I mean they were going when I was a… kid,” Kravitz said. The books had started when he was in high school, and he’d been technically too old for them, but he’d loved them anyway. He’d read every single one so far. “You read them too?”

Taako snorted. “Not willingly. It was the only thing to do up here,” he said, flipping a page. “The kid’s been trying to get me to read them for ages.”

“Angus?”

“Yeah,” Taako said, closing the book with his finger marking the page. “They’re his favourite I guess?” He leaned his head back on the wall of the treehouse, looking at Kravitz. “You should tell him you’ve read them, I’m sure he’d love to nerd out about it with you.”

Kravitz chuckled, leaning back. “Yeah, maybe I will,” he said. “Who’s kid is he, anyway? Not Merle’s?”

Taako laughed. “God no, Merle’s kids are with their mom over the holiday.” Taako looked back at the book and for a moment Kravitz thought that would be all the answer he’d get. But then Taako continued, speaking to the book. “Ango doesn’t have parents, we just know him cause Magnus volunteers for some big brother type program and got paired up with him. He’s also a first year at the university. He’s some kind of baby genius.”

“Oh wow,” Kravitz said, “that’s impressive.”

Taako nodded. “You better believe it, bubeleh.” Kravitz caught sight of a small, proud smile on Taako’s face even as he attempted to hide it behind the Caleb Cleveland book.

They fell into silence and Kravitz looked around the treehouse. It was well built, with wide windows and bookshelves and little chairs against one wall. There was even the beginnings of a balcony visible under the mounds of snow in the tree. It must have been excellently built because, despite the roof being buried under snow, the inside was completely dry. 

“Who built this?” Kravitz asked, getting up to look around. He had to be hunched over in most of the treehouse, he was only able to stand all the way up where the roof peaked.

“We did, last summer,” Taako said. Kravitz gave him a surprised look and Taako rolled his eyes before amending “Alright, mostly Magnus did. I was there, though.”

Kravitz laughed. “That sounds more accurate.”

Taako looked up at him with a wry look. “Ah, reached the teasing stage have we?” He said, and if it wasn’t for the half smile on his face, Kravitz would have felt the need to apologize. Instead he just smiled back.

“Hey, lazybones,” came a shout from below the tree, “you ever gonna come down?”

Taako pushed himself to his knees and went over to the hole in the floor of the treehouse, leaning out to look at whoever was shouting.

“You’re the ones who trapped us up here,” he shouted back. “That was a fine way to go about getting our help, Lulu!”

Taako dodged out of the way as a handful of snow flew through the hole, obviously having been aimed for his head. He sat back on his heels and looked at Kravitz, a bright spark in his eyes. “Oh, she’s asking for it now,” he said with a grin. “You gonna fight with me, my dude?”

Kravitz only wondered what he was getting himself into for a moment before nodding. Taako nodded back once, motioning for Kravitz to go over to him.

“Good, I didn’t really want to have to strand you up here,” Taako said, pulling a wand out of his jacket pocket. He cast feather fall on both of them and jumped down through the hole. Kravitz followed, his heart leaping into his chest for a moment before his mind caught up with the fact that he was falling much more slowly than he was supposed to. 

He caught sight, as they fell, of Lup, Magnus and Barry already busy making snowballs, huddled behind the snow banks that had been created by their shoveling. The rest of them were standing on the porch, watching with amusement as Magnus started trying to hit them, missing Taako by a mile. As soon as Taako’s feet hit the ground he started scooping up snow, running around to the back of the tree to take cover. Kravitz joined him, scooping handfuls of snow as he went. It stuck to his knitted gloves in clumps.

The warmth of the day had melted the snow just enough for it to be of perfect sticking quality. Soon they were leaning out from behind the wide tree trunk, throwing snowballs at the others when they popped out from behind the snow bank. At one point Magnus grabbed Angus off of the porch and threw him into the snow on the other side of the bank, Angus laughing the whole time as he picked himself out of the snow and scurried, keeping low, over to the other side of the tree.

“Magnus told me to come be with you guys so the sides would be even, sirs!” Angus said, dark eyes sparkling. Taako grinned and smacked Angus on the back.

“Welcome to the good side, Agnes,” he said. “Now start making some ammo!”

They stayed behind their respective shelters for only a few moments longer before Magnus lead a charge towards the tree, Lup following behind him. Taako shouted obscenities at them as he grabbed Angus’s hand and ran off. Kravitz started to follow them, walking backwards as he threw barely packed snow handfuls at the others to try and dissuade them from chasing them.

Lup shouted a battle cry as they charged, getting ever closer to Kravitz. He realized too late that the two of them were gaining on him faster than he would be able to run in the deep snow. Magnus caught up to him and picked him up from the waist, heaving him over his shoulder for a moment. Kravitz yelled, unused to being picked up, but Magnus was built like an oak shithouse and handled Kravitz like a big bag of potatoes. He let Kravitz fall from his shoulder, and Kravitz landed on his back in the snow. For a moment he just lay there, watching Lup run past, scooping up more snow than she should have been able to hold. Magnus was standing over him, and after a moment offered a hand.

“You good?” He asked, grinning ear to ear. Kravitz nodded and accepted Magnus’s hand, but as soon as Kravitz was standing up Magnus dropped a handful of snow on his head. “You’re still the enemy!” Magnus shouted, and then rushed after Lup. Kravitz turned to see them chasing Taako and Angus, who were taking cover behind the line of parked cars now, throwing snow at them and Barry, who was scrambling over the top of the snow bank to take shelter on the other side. Kravitz started running, a laugh spilling from his mouth as he went.

Kravitz ran around the snow bank on the opposite side that Magnus and Lup were standing, distracted Barry with a handful of snow to the face, and jumped over one of the cars, sliding over the hood like he was in some kind of action movie. In the back of his mind he heard cheers from the bystanders on the patio.

“Bout time you joined us, handsome!” Taako shouted, grinning gleefully as he heaved a mage hand full of snow at his sister. “Watch Ango’s back! He’s building up ammo to smash in Mango’s face!”

Kravitz, who had landed with his back against the car, flipped around and looked over the hood he’d slid over. He noticed that Merle had joined in, throwing snowballs at Barry from the patio as Barry dragged Lucretia, laughing so hard she was doubled over, towards his snow bank by the hand. She took the snowball Barry offered her and hit Magnus directly in the back of the head with it. Magnus shouted as the snow slid down the back of his jacket and Lucretia shrieked when he turned and ran after her. 

Angus popped up beside Kravitz, handed him a snowball, and the two of them threw their snowballs at Magnus’s back at the same time. Kravitz caught him in the arm and Angus hit his shoulder, but he just turned around to make a face at them as he continued to chase Lucretia down. 

Barry, having seemingly switched sides at some point, threw a snowball at Lup that connected with her back, and she turned towards him, miraculously dodging the snowball Taako had thrown at her. It sailed past her face and hit Barry in the head, just above his glasses, knocking his hat off. The sight of Barry, standing there with his mouth slightly agape and reaching up to try and find his hat that wasn’t there, was so funny that both Lup and Taako collapsed into giggles. 

Kravitz recognized that the snow fight was moving towards a free-for-all and dumped a handful of snow down the back of Taako’s coat, already running away while Taako started screaming about the cold and getting up to sprint after him.

“I knew I shoulda left you in the treehouse!” Taako shouted as he chased Kravitz down.

The deep snow was hard to run in, but Kravitz made a break towards the woods at the other end of the driveway. Taako somehow caught up with him, jumping onto Kravitz’s back, knocking him into the snow. Kravitz twisted around as he fell, pulling Taako down with him. He landed on his back, Taako lying on his chest and laughing. Kravitz laughed too, hearing the shouts of everyone else as they chased each other around, even hearing his mothers joining in, but all that was registering in the back of his mind as Taako gasped for breath just above him, laughing too hard to push himself back up. His face was flushed red from running and cold, making his freckles stand out. He was unintentionally pushing Kravitz further into the snow as he struggled to get to his knees but Kravitz didn’t really mind, overtaken with the urge to commit the sight of Taako’s laughing face to memory. Eyes squeezed tight, mouth open wide, full of joy. He looked more beautiful than Kravitz had ever seen him.

Taako eventually managed to catch his breath, sit up and offer Kravitz a hand.

“C’mon, Krav, lets go kick Merle’s ass,” he said. Kravitz accepted his hand and they charged off again, rejoining the fray.

Later, back in the house, everyone had changed out of their cold, wet clothes and were back in pyjamas and sweaters, some of them wrapped up in blankets. Istus and Davenport had made hot chocolate and were passing it out to everyone as they sat, trying to warm up, in the circle of couches. Everyone had got soaked in the snowball fight. Between Magnus’s apparent dedication to throwing everyone into the snow, the twins’ using their magic to toss massive amounts of snow around, and the sheer number of snowballs flying around in so many directions that it was always difficult to figure out who’d hit you, none of them had escaped the fight. Kravitz hadn’t felt so young in a long time, which was ridiculous now that he thought about it. He wasn’t actually that old but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d acted like a kid.

“Here, darling,” Istus said as she passed Kravitz a mug. She smiled as she pulled a branch that had been stuck to his hair.

“Thanks, mom,” he said, accepting the mug and humming in contentment as it warmed his ice cold fingers. She smiled at him and passed the other mug in her hand to Angus, sitting next to Kravitz on Taako’s lap.

“Thank you, mam!” Angus said, holding the mug up to his face. “I can’t remember the last time my nose was so cold!”

“Probably sometime last winter, bubeleh,” Taako said. He was drying Angus’s hair with a towel, his face and the tips of his ears still bright pink from the cold. He glanced up to see Kravitz staring at him and smiled. “What’s up, handsome? I got something in my hair too?”

“No, sorry,” Kravitz said, looking self-consciously into his mug of hot chocolate. “Just, that was fun.”

“Hah, yeah,” Taako said, dropping the towel onto the floor at Angus’s feet and busying himself with running his fingers through Angus’s curls to make sure there was nothing else in them. Kravitz risked another peek at him out of the corner of his eyes and saw that he was smiling to himself. A private, quiet smile. Kravitz looked back at his hot chocolate, smiling too.

This fake relationship thing wasn’t turning out to be too bad after all, he decided. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yall had to know this was coming right? You think there'd be a snowed in fic without a massive snowball fight??
> 
> Also, I've decided to change the update schedule to every other Friday because essays are hurting me already :p Ahh fourth year... And I've decided that for sure I'm going to be writing an epilogue so there'll be one more chapter after the main plot, which means we're half way through! Incredible!! Everyone's comments have been so lovely and keep me going thank you all so much for being so awesome!!! <3


	6. Chapter 6

The next day Taako got out of shoveling duty by saying he’d stay in and prepare lunch for the rest of them. The job was, according to Davenport, “mostly done,” so they let him get away with it. It didn’t look anywhere close to done to Taako, but that was everyone else’s problem now.

They were basically out of Candlenights leftovers at that point but Taako found a huge bag of rice and a bunch of frozen appetizers in Merle’s freezer. Merle said he was saving those for a new years party but Taako made the executive decision that they were going to be for this party instead. He could put together some sort of meal at least.

“How is it coming along, dear?” Istus asked, sitting at the dining room table with a basket on her lap.

“I'm going to turn this trash into something fucking great,” Taako said, smiling. He liked Istus. He usually didn’t like people he didn’t know but there was something so sweet about her. He could tell when she said something nice that she meant it, that unlike a majority of people she was genuinely kind. It was something Taako had noticed she had in common with her son.

Istus’s pulled a set of knitting needles out of her basket, half a project already hanging off of them. There were two balls of yarn in the basket, a blue one and a gold one. They were combining on her needles to form a complex pattern. She pulled her hand knit shawl around her shoulders before starting on the project.

“They told me I was a fool to bring my knitting,” she said as her fingers made loops and stitches effortlessly. “Now who’s laughing, huh?” She looked up at Taako with a grin.

Taako laughed. “Smart, always good to bring something to a party in case there’s some down time.”

“You’re joking, but look who has something to do other than play cards over and over,” Istus said, checking her pattern.

The night before had consisted mainly of card and board games. Taako had mostly avoided them, except for a couple games of Clue with Angus and whoever else they could rope into playing with them. Kravitz, Davenport, Raven and Lucretia had spent a long period playing some complicated card game that Taako couldn’t be bothered to learn the rules for. After their game was over, they roped almost everyone into a huge game of Uno, which had definitely been a mistake. 

They insisted on playing with some ridiculous house rules about swapping hands that just served to extend the game to excruciating lengths. Two hours in Lup had shouted at almost every other player, Merle had somehow ended up with a handful of 28 cards that were all red and Lucretia had almost won four times only to be foiled by Kravitz. Every time he did the entire group groaned and Taako smacked him with his cards. Kravitz was ridiculously competitive, which Taako had not seen coming. It would have been cute if Taako hadn’t been involved in the pain. The game eventually ended and by that point it had been so long that Taako couldn’t remember who had actually won, only that he was eternally grateful to them for freeing him. He’d gone to bed immediately after, drained from hours of fucking cards. And Istus had got out of it by busily knitting the whole time.

“I’m impressed you got out of shoveling duty,” Taako said, popping a tray full of appetizers into the oven.

“Oh, well, with my knees, you know,” Istus said with a wink and a half smile. Taako laughed. He knew he was right to like her.

“What’re you knitting?” Taako asked as he moved around the kitchen. The sound of her needles clicking together was comfortingly homey and whatever it was she was making looked complicated. It involved the use of four double-sided needles arranged in a square.

“Oh, just a little project,” she said noncommittally. “Something I started a couple days ago.”

“I like the colours,” Taako said. She smiled.

“I thought you might,” she said, spinning the needles in her hand. “So, how’re you doing, Taako?”

Taako wasn’t usually one for small talk but he decided to indulge. “Oh, yknow,” he said, “getting a little antsy about the shitty internet out here but other then that it’s not too bad.”

Istus chuckled to herself. “This is why I bring my yarn,” she said.

“Hell yeah, analogue baby,” Taako said, pointing to Istus with a wooden spoon he’d just used to stir up a pot of rice before putting the lid on it.

“Oh, you know I forgot I was meaning to ask you,” Istus said after a moment, “you never did tell us your side of how you and Kravitz got together. He was so sparse with the details.”

Taako laughed, trying not to sound worried and turned away, trying to remember exactly what they had agreed the story was a few nights ago.

“Yeah, well you know, we met in one of those study halls on campus and…”

Taako caught sight of Kravitz out the kitchen window and the whole stupid, dramatic story flew out of his head. Kravitz was rubbing his hands together to warm them, his shovel temporarily resting against a tree. Magnus came up behind him and smacked him on the shoulder, making Kravitz jump. Taako found himself smiling at the sight. Kravitz’s shocked expression changed into laughter and Magnus laughed with him. Taako made a last minute adjustment to the story.

“I wasn’t really studying,” he said, turning around to face Istus again. “I was mostly just procrastinating and then Krav walked in and sat at my table and he was super handsome so I started talking to him, y’know? And we just sorta clicked.” He shrugged. “I talked him into going on a date with me a couple of days later and the rest is history, I guess. It’s been good.”

Istus smiled warmly and a little knowingly at him. “It’s so lucky the two of you ran into each other,” she said. “That’s a big campus.”

Taako hmmed. “Yeah, I guess it was really lucky.”

“Sometimes these things are just fate,” Istus said, moving a plastic loop that marked what row she was on to the next needle.

“Well I don’t know about that,” he said, leaning on the counter. “I’m not really big on the fate stuff. Never believed in shit like soulmates or destiny or whatever.”

Istus nodded. “A lot of people think like that,” she replied. “I think you’re right, mostly. There are some things, though, that are bound to be destined.” Her fingers never stopped as she looked up at him. “Something lead you here, don’t you think? Not really to this moment, with all its details, but to the people you know and are important to you.”

Taako shook his head. “Not really, just an accident of the universe,” he said.

Istus smiled and hummed. “Do you think it was an accident that my brother is such good friends with Merle, and you started dating my son? And that we just happened to show up at your family’s Candlenights dinner?”

“I mean, they’re not really my family,” Taako said on reflex. “And it was a pretty damn big coincidence, I’ll give you that.”

Istus shook her head, smiling good naturedly. “It was that, wasn’t it?” she said. “Well, either way, accident or fate, I’m happy you two found each other. You seem good together, and I can tell that Kravitz really likes you.”

Taako was suddenly uncomfortable. Maybe Istus thought they were great together, and maybe Taako was starting to think the same thing, but he was considerably less sure about the part where Kravitz liked him.

“Ha, yeah,” he said, turning back to check on the pot of rice even though there was no reason to.

Just then the front door slammed open. “Hey Taako?” Kravitz shouted into the cottage.

“What’s up babe?” Taako asked, looking around the wall that separated the kitchen from the entryway. Kravitz was standing in the doorway, looking worried.

“You might want to come out here,” he told him, “Lup’s starting to lose it.”

Taako stuffed his feet in Magnus’s boots and grabbed his jacket off the coat hook, already out the door before he’d even put it on.

“What’s going on?” he asked Kravitz, who was hurrying to keep up with him.

“She’s just started threatening to set fire to the snow,” Kravitz explained. “They’re trying to get her to calm down but she’s not listening.” Taako could see her now, near the end of the driveway, facing off with Barry and Magnus who were trying to talk her down. She didn’t look too bad, thank god, but Taako could recognize the blazing in her eyes. She was furious.

“She’s okay,” Lucretia said to Taako as they approached. “Just frustrated, I just thought you might want to help calm her down.”

Taako nodded, walking up to his sister. She was pacing and clenching her hands, refusing to be touched by Barry who was trying to be comforting. As Taako approached Magnus backed down. Lup hadn’t had a meltdown like this for a while but they were all still familiar with the process.  

“Hey, Lulu,” Taako said, “what’s going on?”

“Don’t fucking test me, Taako,” she snapped, “I swear to fucking god I am about to fireball this entire driveway. I am so sick and fucking tired of this shit.”

“No need for that,” he said, crossing his arms. “I mean, you don’t want to burn down the trees and shit, do you?”

“I don’t care!” She shouted, throwing her arms into the air. “I want it to be gone! I’m fucking done!”

“Lu,” Taako said slowly, “take a breath babe, slow down.”

Lup growled, stopped dead in her tracks, and heaved a heavy, angry breath.

“That’s it,” Taako said, walking up to her. She’d stopped pacing, and that was always a good sign. He put his hands on her shoulders, breathing slow and easy with her. Her eyes were still furious but after a moment she closed them and sighed.

“Okay,” she said, “I’m cooling down.”

“Good,” Taako said. “Now, do you understand why you can’t set the snow on fire?”

“Yeah,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. “It’d get us out of here faster.”

“I know, but we’re going to be out real soon,” Taako said. “Look, see? You guys almost have a path all the way to the road. Now we just have to wait for the city snowplows to come along, they’re supposed to get here tomorrow.”

“I want to go home,” Lup said, sounding exhausted all of a sudden. Taako nodded. He had expected something like this to happen.

“I know hun, me to,” Taako said, wrapping his arm around Lup’s shoulder and walking her back towards the cottage. “We’ll get out of here soon.”

Lup hid her face into Taako’s shoulder as they walked back so she wouldn’t have to see how everyone else had stopped working to look at the two of them worriedly. Taako made eye contact with Barry who followed them. They took Lup to her and Barry’s bedroom and Taako left them together, Lup apologizing to Barry and taking shuddering breaths. Taako knew that now that her fury was gone she’d need a moment to cry, and Barry could handle that. Taako didn’t trust many people to help her sister when she was like this but Barry was one of them.

“Is she okay?” Kravitz asked quietly when Taako came back into the common room. He looked genuinely worried, which Taako appreciated.

“She’ll be fine,” Taako said, going back into the kitchen. He had to make sure the food hadn’t been ruined by his leaving it. “She really doesn’t like feeling trapped, but it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. She just needs a couple minutes.”

Kravitz nodded and didn’t ask any more questions about it, which Taako was grateful for. When things like this happened he was always on edge, waiting for people to start trying to pry into their lives and get all the details they had no right knowing. It was no one else’s business.

“We really are almost done,” Kravitz said a little awkwardly. “Should be able to get a car to the end of the driveway by the end of the day.”

“Thank fucking god,” Taako said, pulling the appetizers out of the oven. They weren’t fantastic but there were mini quiches that didn’t look awful and he’d shred the meat off the chicken wings. With the remaining eggs, a bag of frozen peas and a half full bottle of ranch dressing he could transmute into soy sauce he could make a decent fried rice. “I can not wait to get the hell out of here.”

Kravitz nodded. “We just have to get the cars started,” he said. “That might be difficult, but Merle’s has been plugged in so he can probably jump start the others if they need it.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Taako said, mostly uninterested. There was an approximately 0% chance that the piece of shit car he and Lup had bought fourth hand would start but they could just bum a ride off someone. “As long as we can actually fuck off tomorrow I’m happy. I can not wait to get back to like, my bed. And my clothes. I’ve been wearing these tights and that shitty old pair of skinny jeans for days.”

Kravitz, who by all accounts had a worse clothes situation going on, nodded. He’d been wearing those nice pants that were probably at least a little bit ruined now or the pair of sweat pants Taako had given him. Most of the rest of the clothes in his and Lup’s dresser were summer looks, mocking Taako with their bright colours and light fabrics. If he wouldn’t definitely freeze, he would have absolutely worn a skirt that day. There was one that made his ass look fantastic that he’d had to pass on because of the damn cold.

“I hate winter,” he muttered into the bowl of shredded chicken bits.

“What?” Kravitz asked. Taako shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it, hot stuff,” he said, patting Kravitz on the shoulder. “Just wishing you’d run into me when I was looking a little cuter.” He said it with enough of a sarcastic tone to make it sound like a joke. Kravitz laughed.

“I should probably head back out there,” he said, pushing himself off the wall and heading back to the entryway. “Gotta help them finish up.”

“Let them know that lunch’ll be ready in like half an hour,” Taako said, following Kravitz to the entryway and watching him bend over to put his boots on. “I’ll get all you snow men warmed up.”

“Thanks,” Kravitz said, turning to smile at Taako as he headed out the door. “See you in a bit, babe.”

The pet name, given without any prompting or need to act, gave Taako a warm, glowing feeling that he hadn’t expected. Maybe it was just habit at this point, he told himself. Or maybe…

“I think your rice is almost done, dear,” Istus said from her seat at the table.

“Oh,” Taako said, suddenly embarrassed, “I uh, forgot you were still there, Istus.”

She smiled, getting up from her chair. The thing hanging from her needles was a short tube, blue with a complex golden snowflake pattern. She approached Taako and, reaching up, pulled it onto his head. It was going to be a hat, he realized.

“Oh good, I got the size right,” she said. Then, mostly to herself, “should start reducing in a row or two.”

“You’re making that for me?” Taako asked. Istus smiled at him as she took the hat off his head.

“Of course, dear,” she said, going back to sit down. “We never got you a Candlenights present, so I’m making that right.”

Taako wished he could understand his own emotions, even for just one minute, so that he could put together how he was feeling about this. A little guilty for tricking her, that was for sure, and maybe just a little bit sad for some reason. Mixed in with all that, however, was no small amount of pleased.

There wasn’t time to unpack what all that meant, though. Istus was right, his rice was done. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the kind of short chapter this week guys, but it's a set up for a whole shit load of drama to come! I am so excited to be in the back half of this fic cause y'all... I got some Stuff Planned that I hope you're really gonna like (or at least enjoy for the Drama of it all lol)
> 
> Also, someone in the comments of the last chapter asked if I have a tumblr? I do! My url is [literatechick](https://literatechick.tumblr.com), if you want to come say hi or something please do!! I'd love to talk to any of you guys ^-^


	7. Chapter 7

It didn’t take much longer that afternoon for them to dig out a path all the way out to the road wide enough for a car. The roads were still far too packed with snow for them to drive out, even with the small amount of melting that had happened over the past couple of days. Still, most of the work was done.

“The snow plows are supposed to get here tomorrow at some point,” Merle said once they were all inside, “so we’re gonna see about starting the cars tomorrow morning. In the meantime, we’ve all worked hard for the past couple of days so let’s all just take it easy!” He pointed to Taako, who had brought out a set of Bluetooth speakers. He hit a button on his phone with a dramatic flair and fantasy Carly Rae Jepsen started playing. Lup, sitting on the couch with Barry’s arm around her shoulder, threw her hands up and whooped.

The group seemed to be relieved that the work was at least mostly done. Everyone was laughing and chatting easily, some pulling out one of the apparently limitless board games in Merle’s collection. After only a few minutes Merle got up and started dancing to Taako’s party music, earning a few groans, the most adamant from Taako himself.

“Merle, I swear to god,” he said, “don’t ruin my fantastic music taste with your old man dancing.”

“What, don’t you want to cut a rug with me?” Merle asked, shaking his butt in Taako’s general direction.

Taako hid his face in his hands, and for a moment Kravitz was worried that he was legitimately upset when his shoulders started shaking, but it became clear that he was trying to hide laughter. It didn’t work for long, though, and after a moment he was laughing so hard that he was completely leaning on Kravitz, sitting beside him on the couch.

“Alright, alright,” Taako said when he’d caught his breath, though he was still leaning on Kravitz, “first of all, who the fuck says cut a rug? No one has said that in like four hundred fucking years. Second, you call that dancing?”

Merle, doing some kind of weird version of the twist, raised his eyebrows at Taako. “What else would you call it?” he asked.

“A fucking tragedy,” Taako said. He pushed himself up to standing, and Lup clapped.

“Hell yeah, Ko, show him how it’s done!” she said.

Taako turned and winked at her, then blew a kiss toward Kravitz. He shooed Merle off the ‘dance floor,’ which was really just the empty floorspace around the dining room table, and proceeded to break out the most flirty, dirty club dance moves Kravitz had ever seen. He pulled the elastic out of his hair and shook out his braid before flipping his hair and dropping low. He slowly raised himself back up, back arched so his ass looked its best, which was very good if Kravitz was any judge.

After a moment of watching the show Kravitz realized he hadn’t taken his eyes off Taako’s ass the whole time. He coughed awkwardly and turned away, hoping no one noticed. The way Lup was smiling at him told him wasn’t about to be that lucky.

“Um, so Lup,” Kravitz said, trying to keep his eyes off Taako and hoping to distract her from anything she may or may not have seen, “are you feeling any better now?” He cursed himself. He hadn’t intended on bringing up her brief meltdown but it was the first thing he could think of.

Lup laughed. “Oh yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Sorry about that, by the way. Hope you weren’t too freaked out.” She grinned, obviously not too upset any more.

“Oh, no it’s fine,” Kravitz said, waving a hand in front of him. “Taako told me you don’t like feeling stuck in places, which is completely understandable. Please, don’t feel bad. We’re all getting a little stir-crazy. No one’s going to blame you for not wanting to be stuck here.”

Lup’s smile turned incredulous. “Taako told you?” she said, as if she didn’t really believe it.

“Hey nerds,” Taako said, spinning around, “you’re missing quite the show.”

Kravitz turned back to Taako who was popping his hips and voguing. He saw Kravitz watching him and smacked his ass with a wink. Kravitz blushed and glanced around at everyone else. Lucretia was talking to Istus, seemingly unbothered, but she was unsuccessfully trying to cover Angus’s eyes at the same time. Merle was shaking his head, clearly still sure that his dance skills were better. Magnus was laughing but seemed to be taking mental notes. Taako noticed and danced over to him, pulling him up as the song changed to an old fantasy Britney Spears song. Magnus covered his face for a moment, laughing hysterically, but soon enough joined in. His dancing was significantly less slutty, mostly just fist pumping and comically shaking his butt as Taako danced around him. Merle took this as his cue to rejoin the dance floor, and even Angus shook off Lucretia’s hands and joined in, being scooped up by Magnus as Taako whooped. The four of them, Angus on Magnus’s shoulders, continued to dance as Lup touched Kravitz’s arm to get his attention.

“So, Krav,” she said, “what did my brother tell you about us?”

“Oh,” Kravitz said, worried she thought he’d been prying into their life. “He told me you don’t like feeling trapped, if that’s what you mean.”

Lup nodded slowly. “Y’know, even just that is impressive,” she said. “He usually doesn’t tell people anything.”

“Yeah,” Kravitz said, “he’s told me he doesn’t do back story.”

“He’s weird like that,” Lup said. “He doesn’t like to tell people about when we were in the foster system. He says it’s no one else’s business, but I just think he doesn’t like to relive it.”

Kravitz tried not to react to that new information. “I don’t blame him,” he said after a moment. “I imagine that could be upsetting.”

Lup sighed. “He didn’t tell you any of it?” she asked. Kravitz shook his head. “That boy,” Lup said, rolling her eyes. “Not to drag my brother, but he seriously has to get better at letting other people in. He’s still so bad at that.”

Kravitz frowned, a little uncomfortable. He was curious about Taako and Lup’s past, of course, but he was almost certain that Taako wouldn’t want Lup telling him all this.

“He’s just tough to crack,” Barry offered, leaning over Lup towards Kravitz. “He doesn’t get close to people quickly, but once he does he’s all in, even when he pretends he’s not.”

Kravitz nodded, unsure why they were telling him this. Were they trying to warn him? Stop him from getting real feelings for Taako because he was hard to get close to? There wasn’t any danger of that, Kravitz thought, looking across the room to where Taako was dancing with Angus. Angus’s feet were on top of Taako’s and they were both grinning widely as Taako lead them in some kind of bastardized waltz. Kravitz couldn’t help but smile.

“Anyway,” Lup said, waving Barry away, “I know Taako didn’t want to talk about it but it’s my backstory too, and I like you Krav, so I’m gonna tell you what’s up. Me and Taako got put in the system after our aunt died, and it was pretty shit.”

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz said. He cringed at the cliché of it but couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Lup shrugged. “I mean, we made it out okay. One of the worst places, though, used to lock us in a closet as punishment, and they forgot me in there one time for a while, which has been the source of many a meltdown.” She said all this with a remarkably cheerful tone, as if it didn’t bother her anymore. Barry rubbed her back as she talked. “But yeah, we got out and got into university, and now we’re kicking ass, so it’s not a big deal.”

“Still though,” he said, “that must have been rough.”

She smiled warmly. “Listen, man, it really is chill. Maybe not so much for my brother yet, but I’m making my peace with it.” She leaned back into Barry, pulling his arm around her shoulder. “He’ll get there one day.”

Kravitz nodded. “Thanks for telling me,” he said. It really did mean a lot that she trusted him enough for that.

“No problem,” Lup said, “like I said, I like you. You’re really not at all like the kind of guys Taako usually goes for.” She winked and grinned. Kravitz smiled back, and this time he was pretty sure he understood the warning. He wasn’t Taako’s type.

“Remember that one guy he supposedly dated for like a week last year?” Barry said, laughing to himself.

“God, yeah, Brian? What a weirdo” Lup said, shaking her head. “They met at like, a club or something I’m pretty sure, and then they fucked on our couch for a week, and then there was some big fight about like, Taako killing a spider I think? Something real dumb like that.”

“Oh, are we talking about Brian?” Magnus asked, sitting on the coffee table in front of them. “I liked that guy, I mean he was a dick, obviously, but he was pretty fun.”

“He was too fake to be a dick,” Lup said confidently. “Guy was a straight up enormous dildo.”

“Last I heard he’s getting married,” Barry said. “I thought that was kinda weird, since he can’t have been dating anyone for very long.”

Lup snorted. “With his brand of crazy? I believe it.”

“What’s going on over here?” Taako asked, coming up behind Magnus and resting his arms on Magnus’s shoulders.

“We’re dishing about your awful exs’ to your new boyfriend,” Lup said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Taako rolled his eyes, glanced over to make sure Istus and Raven were occupied, then leaned in. “You all know it’s not like that, c’mon,” he said in a low voice.

“Yeah okay, T,” Lup said, getting up off the couch and giving her brother a shove as she passed him, “whatever you say.”

Taako shook his head, spinning to drop onto the couch between Barry and Kravitz. “So,” he said, leaning his head on Kravitz’s shoulder, “what have they told you about my messy past?”

“Not much, actually,” Kravitz assured him, absently brushing a stray hair off his forehead.

“Just about the insanity that was your last ill-fated boyfriend,” Barry said, shoving Taako’s legs off his lap. Taako laughed.

“Oh god,” he said, “yeah that was wild. What a disaster.” He hummed and pulled Kravitz’s arm around his shoulders. “Ah well, at least it was dramatic. When you’ve got a dramatic breakup you know it was worth your time cause then at least you get a story out of it, you feel?”

Kravitz came to the sudden realization that that was all he was, a story for Taako to tell to his fun, vibrant friends. People who went to clubs and started impromptu snowball fights and dance parties. People who were more exciting than Kravitz would ever be, who more often stayed at home playing music and reading than going out with the few people he talked to in his classes. He tried to tell himself that the revelation didn’t hurt as much as it did.

It didn’t matter anyway, he reminded himself. It’s not like he had real feelings for Taako.

“You okay, Krav?” Taako asked, leaning back to look up at Kravitz. He reached a hand over his head to pat Kravitz on the cheek. His bright green eyes were sparkling and his smile held just a touch of concern. Kravitz’s heart stuttered.

_Oh,_ he thought, _fuck._

“Yeah, I’m alright,” he said. “Just tired.”

Taako nodded, turning away to tune back into the conversation that Kravitz had lost the thread of, leaving Kravitz to his thoughts.

So maybe he had a little crush on Taako. How like him, he thought, to start falling for a guy who was completely uninterested. Who thought this whole thing was a game. It wasn’t too late, at least. Kravitz was sure that, even if he had a crush, he wasn’t too far gone. As soon as they had all left Kravitz would be able to forget and move on. It sucked, for sure, but he’d be alright. Alone, but alright. He always was.

“Excuse me,” Kravitz said, unburying himself from Taako’s cuddling and going to the bathroom just for the excuse to get up and move.

In the bathroom he splashed cold water on his face, trying very specifically not to think about this supposed new crush. Instead he ended up thinking about how it really wasn’t fair that now he knew things about Taako’s past that he wasn’t supposed to. It wasn’t Lup’s fault, like she said it was her past too, but it felt wrong, especially since Taako wasn’t even aware that he knew.

He was thinking of that on his way back from the bathroom when he ran into Taako in the hallway, heading up towards the bedrooms, and figured this was a good a time as any to have a conversation.

“Hey,” he said, “can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?” Taako asked, smiling and leaning up against the wall. He didn’t seem to be bothered by Kravitz stopping him at all.

“I just wanted to tell you, because I feel like it’s something you should know,” he started, tripping over his words, “but Lup told me about you two as kids, and I know that you didn’t really want to talk about that, and you don’t have to, but she told me some stuff and I thought you should know that I know.”

Taako’s smile dropped off his face and was replaced by a distinctly annoyed look. “Fucking hell Lup,” he muttered. “What did she tell you?”

“Just some basic stuff,” Kravitz said reassuringly, “just that you two grew up in the foster system—”

Kravitz was cut off by Taako’s reaction to the sound of someone coming down the hall. He threw open a nearby door and pulled Kravitz into a hall closet, closing the door behind them.

“Sorry,” Taako said as Kravitz blinked in the sudden darkness, “I just don’t need anyone overhearing.”

“Right,” Kravitz said, pressing himself against the far wall. It still didn’t allow for much space between them. “Um, so yeah, she just basically told me about the whole foster system thing and that you two had a hard time of it, but not a lot of detail, I promise.”

Kravitz couldn’t see Taako clearly but he heard him shifting in the dark. “Well, I guess that isn’t so bad,” he said hesitantly. “I mean, I’m gonna have to talk to her about the boundaries of other people, but oh well.”

“Sorry,” Kravitz said, “I know you didn’t want me to know that stuff.”

“Listen,” Taako said, forced joviality in his voice, “if you were gonna stick around you would have found out anyway.”

For a moment Kravitz wanted to ask if Taako wanted him to stick around, but then they were surprised by the door opening.

Kravitz had never been good at acting in stressful situations. When he got panicked he tended to do stupid things. On his first day of university the professor called on him and he had panicked, and answered with a fake cockney accent. He’d had to keep the accent up in that class for the whole semester, and when he had the professor again in third year he’d done the same thing. It was stupid, he knew that, but sometimes his reaction to an unexpected situation was to do something stupid.

Which was why, when the door opened and surprised him and Taako, he panicked, pulled Taako in by the waist, and kissed him.

Taako was so surprised he didn’t react at first, but his lips were warm and soft and for a moment Kravitz forgot where they were or what was happening because it was so nice. It was probably only a moment but it felt like hours had passed when Kravitz realized what had happened and pulled back just as suddenly. In the light from the hallway he could see Taako’s face, he looked surprised and a little amused. Kravitz was worried he’d be angry, but it didn’t seem like he was.

“You know,” said Davenport, who had opened the closet door, “you two have a room. It’s a big cottage, there are better places to make out.” He seemed utterly unfazed as he reached past Taako to grab a spare blanket. “You want me to close the door?”

“Nah, Dav,” Taako said, breaking out into a grin, “we’re almost done here.”

“Alright,” Davenport said. He sounded like an unimpressed, but unsurprised, camp counsellor as he walked away.

After a moment of silence, during which Kravitz was sure Taako was going to shout at him or just walk away, he started to laugh instead.

“C’mon,” he said, taking Kravitz’s arm and pulling him down the hallway, “I have a sweater I meant to grab before you ambushed me.”

“I am so sorry,” Kravitz said as Taako pulled him into the bedroom they had been sharing, “I don’t know what came over me, I just panicked, I am so so sorry…”

“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Taako said, pulling on a pastel knit sweater. When he came through the collar his hair was dishevelled and he was grinning. “You’re not a bad kisser, handsome.”

Kravitz frowned as Taako pulled his hair out of the sweater. “I’m still sorry,” he said. “I overstepped, that was inappropriate.”

“My dude, seriously don’t worry about it” Taako said. “It’s no big thing, nothing happened if you don’t want it to.”

“Yeah,” Kravitz said slowly, “probably best to just forget it, right?”

Taako grinned. “Consider it forgotten my dude,” he said as he passed Kravitz out of the room.

Kravitz followed him after a moment, feeling conflicted. On one hand kissing him had been really nice. On the other, he shouldn’t have done it, no matter what Taako said. Kravitz wasn’t convinced it was all okay, there had to be something Taako wasn’t telling him.

He got through that night by getting Lup to make him a couple drinks and trying to push everything that happened out of his mind. At one point, when in was late and he was a couple of drinks in, Taako was resting his head on Kravitz’s chest and Kravitz couldn’t resist leaning down and giving him a peck on the forehead. He’d picked up on the looks that traveled around the room when he did it, though, and felt bad about it all over again. Taako just made a humming noise in response.

That night, like the past few nights, Kravitz laid down in the bed facing away from Taako before he fell asleep. Unlike the past few nights he laid awake for a while. Beside him, Taako’s breathing shifted to slow and deep, and Kravitz knew he was asleep. He turned and found Taako facing him in the bed, mouth slightly open, hair falling across his face. Kravitz smiled.

This wasn’t fair, he thought. Not to Taako, and not too him. He never meant for feelings to make their way into this charade. He always meant for it to be temporary. He still had to pretend to break up with Taako in a month or so. He couldn’t with good conscious continue the game when he knew it had the potential of meaning so much more to him.

Taako’s words came back to him then, _when you’ve got a dramatic breakup you know it was worth your time cause then at least you get a story out of it._ He reached over and gently, so Taako wouldn’t notice, brushed the hair out of his face. In that moment he made a decision, one that kept him awake longer as he came to terms with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! It's been a minute lol I've been super busy with school and stuff, but I hope this ride of a chapter makes up for it!! We're approaching the end now, and it might start taking me a while on the regular to get new chapters up cause I really wanna do my best with the end but I hope it'll be worth it!!!
> 
> Like I said in the last chapter, if any of ya wanna come chat with me, about this fic or anything while I'm taking my sweet time, yall can come find me on tumblr [@literatechick](https://literatechick.tumblr.com/), I'd love to hear from any of you!!! As always thank all of you so much for commenting and leaving kudos and telling me how much you like this, ~~I live off of validation~~ I appreciate it all so much!!! See you all (hopefully) in a couple of weeks!!


	8. Chapter 8

Taako woke up the next morning with a soft bright feeling in his chest. He’d had some dream that he couldn’t remember any more, but it had left him feeling happy and comforted. He could feel the weight beside him on the mattress, and without thinking shifted closer to Kravitz’s body. He was still sleeping, his cool body as welcoming as a fresh cool pillow. Taako hmmed contentedly and drifted off again, curling around Kravitz’s side, not quite touching him.

When he woke up again Kravitz was gone. Taako didn’t think much of it, sitting up in bed and pulling his hair out of its braid, rearranging it into a messy bun. He should probably start breakfast.

When he left his room Lup was already in the kitchen, making food. He leaned across the island that separated the kitchen from the dining room and took a swig from her mug, wincing at the taste of her black coffee.

“Morning, Koko,” she said, turning to face him.

“Morning,” he said. “Have you seen Krav?”

Lup smiled in a way Taako didn’t appreciate. “Missing your boyfriend?” she asked. Taako gave her a withering look.

“Not my boyfriend,” he said, and she snorted.

“Maybe not officially, but you wish he was!” she said in a sing song voice that made Taako look up at the ceiling, begging any god who would listen for strength.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lu,” Taako said, grabbing the sugar jar and dumping spoonful’s into Lup’s coffee. He felt the need to keep his hands busy.

“Uh huh,” she said, turning her back on him to flip the omelet she was cooking. “You can’t hide things like this from me.”

“I can try,” Taako said to himself, knowing she could hear him anyway. He filled her half full coffee mug with hazelnut creamer from the fridge and lifted it to his face, hiding his mouth behind it. He was starting to smile in spite of himself.

“I mean no one blames you,” Lup said, “that boy’s hot as fuck.”

“That he is,” Taako conceded, smiling to himself. It was a fact he’d long ago come to terms with, Kravitz was the most attractive man Taako had or would ever make out with.

“Dav said y’all were making out in a closet last night,” Lup said as if she had been reading his mind. She grinned at him over her shoulder and Taako rolled his eyes.

“Bone boy just panicked when we got walked in on,” Taako said, hiding another smile with the coffee mug. He’d been trying to forget about it like he told Kravitz he would, but he’d felt the warm impression of Kravitz’s lips on his for ages afterwards, and trying to sleep in the bed next to him he’d been unable to stop thinking about kisses, which led to thoughts of other things, which stayed with him long after he’d fallen asleep. His dreams had been full of Kravitz, and had involved a lot more than kissing.

“Uh huh,” Lup said again, “is that why you were glowing when you came out of your room after?” She turned towards him again, slipping the omelet onto a plate and offering it to him. “What were the two of you getting up to in that bed of ours?”

“You left it to me first,” Taako said, cutting the corner off the omelet and stabbing it with a fork. He was feeling the need to change the subject. “Speaking of last night, who gave you the right to go blabbing about my past to every gorgeous stranger who crosses your path?”

Lup scraped a pat of butter off of her spatula into the frying pan and cracked a few eggs in a bowl. “He told you did he? That’s good of him.”

“He said he didn’t want to know stuff about me when I didn’t know he knew,” Taako said. He wanted to stay annoyed at Lup but was finding it difficult while eating the omelet she made him. It was fantastic.

“I knew he was a good egg,” she said, grabbing a handful of shredded cheese and adding it to the egg in the bowl. She mixed it up a little more before pouring it into the frying pan.

“Seriously, Lup, can you not just go sharing my deepest secrets with everyone?”

“My past too, Koko,” she pointed out. He hated when she did that. “Besides, if skull man going to stick around he’s going to have to know eventually.”

“That’s the thing, Lup, he’s not sticking around. This whole situation is a fluke anyway, it’s temporary from the start.”

Lup shrugged. “He seemed pretty interested in sticking around last night.”

Taako shook his head. This whole relationship was fake bullshit, he reminded himself. Kravitz wasn’t actually interested in him, which didn’t even really matter cause it’s not like Taako wanted him to be. Really.

“He likes you, Ko,” Lup said, dumping some chopped up veggies and bacon into the omelet. Taako straight up laughed.

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “He’s like, loaded, buff and high class. I’m totally not even his type.” They both heard what Taako was really saying: why would someone like that be into someone like him?

“You don’t know that,” Lup said. “As always, you are your own worst critic.”

“Don’t be stupid, Lu, I don’t have any critics,” Taako countered. Lup nodded, clearly not buying it and shaking various spices into the pan.

“Trust me, Koko, he likes you. Me and Luce were talking about it last night, and she was saying she thought I was crazy for thinking you two would get together for real.”

Taako gave her a confused look, wondering how this was supposed to convince him.

“You know she’s always wrong about shit like this,” Lup said, and Taako had to admit that she was right about that. Lucretia was remarkably clueless about romance for someone so smart about literally everything else.

“Besides,” Lup continued, shaking the pan a little before flicking her wrist to flip the omelet onto itself, “she was saying you two would never get together because you’d be too proud to say anything to him or that you’d never realize that you liked him or something. You two are so obvious that even she can tell.”

Taako chewed on the tines of the fork for a moment, not quite willing to believe it. “Do you really think so?” he asked.

Something in his tone made Lup turn towards him and inspect his face. He tried to turn away, pasting a look of annoyance on his face, but Lup knew him too well, blast her.

“You like him too, don’t you?” she asked. “Like, more than just you think he’s hot? You actually have a real ass crush on him?”

“So where is everyone else?” he asked, knowing full well she’d pick up on the fact that he was trying to avoid the subject. He hoped she’d just let him for once, but no such luck.

“Oh my god Taako!” she said, grabbing him by the shoulders and squeezing. “Do you have a big-boy crush on a guy I like for once?”

“Shut up, Lulu,” Taako said, biting down on the inside of his cheeks to keep him from grinning. It didn’t work.

“Yes!” Lup said triumphantly, pulling him in for a brief hug. “I’m so happy for you! You two look so great together!”

“Would you shut up, Lup?” Taako insisted, leaning back so that she had to stand awkwardly to keep hugging him. He knew it was probably a lost cause by now, but he still wasn’t about to admit to himself that he liked Kravitz. “Your omelet is going to burn,” he added, and she finally took a step away to check.

“I’m just happy for you,” she said, flipping the omelet over.

“Well I think you’re getting too excited about this,” Taako said, dropping onto one of the island stools and eating another forkful of omelet. “It’s not that big of a deal, and nothing’s going to happen anyway.”

Just then Magnus came through the front door and turned to look into the kitchen. “Lup,” he said, then spotted Taako, “oh, hey Taako, they were just wondering if you two are coming.” He glanced between them, taking in Lup’s smug expression and Taako’s unimpressed one, and furrowed his brow. “What’s going on?”

“Maggie!” Lup said, “Taako’s got it bad for Kravitz, confirmed!”

“Oh my god, Lup,” Taako said, burying his face in his hands. Why was it so hard for him to stop god damn smiling?

“I knew it!” Magnus said, throwing his arms up in the air. He smacked Taako on the back. “You should have seen your face last night, Taako, I totally knew something was going on!”

“Would you two just stop?” Taako said into his hands. “Why would I like such a rich, ridiculous, dorky, kind, absurdly handsome, beautiful eyes, excellent kisser…” He groaned and laid his head on the table. “Help me.”

Lup, the traitor, whooped.

“Where did you say the others were?” Taako asked, desperate to change the subject.

“We’re all going for a walk,” Magnus said, apparently unable to stop grinning. “We were just waiting for Lup. You wanna come?”

Taako sighed and nodded, finishing up the omelet and downing Lup’s coffee.

“He must really like him,” Magnus said. He was, in theory, whispering to Lup, but Magnus barely had any volume below shouting. “Taako never goes on walks with us in the winter.”

“Not true,” Taako said, dropping his mug and plate into the sink and walking away from them. “I like walking in the woods.”

“Uh huh,” Lup said, scooping the rest of her omelet into her mouth. Taako wished she would stop saying that.

Taako left the other two behind to be assholes together, pulled on Magnus’s old boots and his jacket and went outside. It was significantly warmer than it had been the day before, but he knew as soon as he’d left he should have worn a hat or a scarf or something. Oh well, too late now.

When he left the cottage he spotted Kravitz standing at the bottom of the stairs, wearing his absurdly handsome coat and a fuzzy pink hat that came out of Merle’s spare hat bucket. Taako was grinning before he could stop himself.

Kravitz turned and spotted Taako, his face breaking into a grin too. He schooled it into a straight face after a moment, too late to stop Taako’s heart from fluttering. How stupid, he thought, skipping down the steps and taking Kravitz’s arm, that he could get flustered just from making eye contact with him.

“Hey,” Taako said, leaning into Kravitz’s side. “You got up early!”

Kravitz smiled at him, face softening. “Yeah,” he said, “I had some trouble sleeping last night.”

Before Taako could respond Angus came running up to Taako, pompom hat covered in snow. “The street is still all snowed in,” he said, “but we could hear the snow plows down the road! Merle said they’ll be going pretty slowly cause there’s so much snow, but we should be all dug out by the end of the day!”

“Fucking finally,” Taako said, pulling Angus’s hat down over his eyes. “I’m getting sick of hanging out here with you losers.”

Angus laughed and pushed his had back out of his eyes. “I know you’re just goofing with me, sir!” he said with a grin.

“The world's greatest detective, everybody!” Taako exclaimed. Angus laughed.

Everyone else was coming back up towards the house from the driveway where apparently they had all gone to check to see if the road had been plowed. Raven, Istus, Davenport, and Merle all went back in the house, crossing paths with Magnus and Lup as they came out.

“Lazybones,” Lup teased as the adults returned to the warmth of the house. The rest of them decided to go for another walk.

Merlgaritaville was on the shores of a small lake. There were other cabins on the lake, but a large portion of the shorefront was Merle’s. The woods surrounding the cabin were great for exploring, and Taako had done his fair share along with everyone else. It was always fun to go adventuring, picking out particularly pretty spots of the forest. There was the constant background sound of running water from the rivers and streams that ran towards the lake and it made Taako feel more at peace than he ever did in the city. He loved coming out to Merlegaritaville mostly because, while he did love his fast-paced, party-full lifestyle, he also liked taking it easy.

“I wish you could have come out here in the summer,” he said to Kravitz, taking his hand and leading him along the path that ran along the shore. “It’s so beautiful, and the fishing isn’t bad.”

Kravitz gave him a bewildered smile. “You fish?” he asked. Taako scoffed.

“Of course, handsome. I never pass up an opportunity to fall asleep on a boat.”

Kravitz laughed and Taako smiled. He loved Kravitz’s laugh, it was warm and genuine and ignited a spark in Taako’s chest he’d been trying to ignore for the past few days. But after his conversation with Lup he realized there was no use in trying to deny it anymore, he had a thing for Kravitz. It was a little scary to even think that, but a little exciting too. Taako reminded himself that he wasn’t the kind of person to get scared of something as simple as a crush, but a haze of anxiety still swept over him at the thought that maybe Lup was wrong and he was getting his hopes up for nothing. But then he looked up at Kravitz’s face as they stood on a outcropping of rocks looking over the lake, it was soft and contemplative, one loc fallen from the ponytail he’d tied the rest back into and resting on his cheek. Whatever this was, he decided, it was worth it.

“Hey,” he said, holding Kravitz’s arm so they fell behind the others, “come here, I wanna show you something.”

They were close to the destination of their walk, a small wood bridge Merle had made to cross a stream that flowed out of the lake and down the rocks in a small waterfall. While the rest of the group started to cross the bridge Taako pulled Kravitz down the bank underneath.

“This is one of my favourite places here,” Taako said, pointing out where, in multicoloured sharpies, he and everyone else had grafitti’d up the underside of the bridge. “We told Merle that all good bridges have a bunch of shit written all over their bottoms.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Lup shouted down, leaning over the bridge railing to look down at them. “Tramp stamps?”

“Bridges, you awful sister!” Taako shouted back up at her. Did she want him to talk to Kravitz or not?

She stuck her tongue out at him, but then winked and started ushering everyone else further along, leaving Kravitz and Taako alone there.

“You guys are all so close,” Kravitz said musingly as he looked around at the notes written there. At a certain point last summer they’d started using it to leave messages to each other. Little exchanges like

 

~~Lup~~ is the best!                                                                                               Don’t b gross u 2

^^Taako      Don’t be jealous I’m prettier than u ^u^       can confirm        thx babe ^3*       

                               

                      Magnus has the best muscles

   Thank u mysterious writer   <\- we all know you wrote both of those messages magnus – Luce

 

Hey barry! Your pants have a hole in the pocket! Taako stole all your change!!

               … why couldn’t you just tell me angus?

                              I told him not 2 cause ud make me give the change back :'(

 

Taako laughed. “Yeah,” he said, smiling to himself. “We’ve known each other forever.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, not really I guess,” Taako said, “we only met at the beginning of university, but it feels like it’s been about a hundred years.” He smiled at the biggest piece of graffiti, big letters spelling out “Siete horny squad” in purple. Lup had written it originally and the rest of them had signed their names around it. “They’re alright,” Taako continued, “I mean, Merle’s fucking weird, and Luce gets on my nerves a lot of the time and I don’t even fucking know why Dav hangs out with us at all, but they’re a pretty good group, I guess.” He took a deep breath, remembering what he and Lup talked about at breakfast. If he wanted Kravitz to stick around, he was going to have to not hide things from him.

“When we first got to uni,” Taako said, consciously not looking at Kravitz, “me and Lup were going through a rough time. We didn’t really know anyone, and we’d just got out of the foster system like a year before and whatever, and like we had each other but it was rough not knowing anyone else. Starting over once again, you know. But then we met Maggie and Merle and all the rest, and I dunno, they’re real like supportive or whatever.”

Taako’s hands were shaking slightly. He’d never said so much about his past to someone new. He pressed his hands into his pants and looked up at Kravitz’s face. He was looking away slightly, wearing a small smile, but looked almost upset about something. Taako’s stomach flipped, terrified that he’d said too much and cursing Lup’s awful advice.

“Anyway,” he said, loudly and suddenly, feeling stupid, “let’s all just forget about that moodkiller! I’m leaving forever now.”

He turned and started to walk away, but Kravitz grabbed his arm to stop him. “Hey,” Kravitz said, smiling at Taako. “Thank you for telling me all that.”

Taako breathed in relief, and smiled back. “Yeah yeah, whatever handsome,” he said, bumping Kravitz with his shoulder. “Come on, everyone’s gone back to the house already.”

Kravitz hesitated for a moment, and there was something sad in his eyes that Taako didn’t like. He bit his lip, like he was trying to decide something, but then looked around, shook his head, and smiled. It didn’t look particularly genuine, but before Taako could ask him if something was wrong he climbed up the embankment to the bridge, leaving Taako to follow.

They walked back to the house in relative silence. Kravitz looked like he was thinking about something, and Taako didn’t want to intrude on whatever had got him looking so pensive. When they finally got back most of them were standing around the cars with Merle, Raven, Istus and Davenport. Raven was in the driver's seat, trying to start the car. There was a ticking noise, but no start to the engine.

“Your battery’s probably too cold,” Davenport said, motioning for her to turn her car off and get out. “If one of the other cars starts we can jump it, otherwise we can take the batteries in to warm up.”

“There are four other cars,” Barry said, “surely one of them will start.” Davenport just shrugged.

“I’d be more sure of that if someone had an outlet outside we could plug cars into,” he said, giving Merle a pointed look. Merle just shrugged.

“You two took your time coming back,” Lup said to Taako and Kravitz, looking expectantly at her brother. “Hope you weren’t up to anything scandalous.”

“Lu, you know we were,” Taako said with a laugh that edged on uneasy. There was something off about Kravitz, who was looking at the cars with a pained expression. He watched as Barry tried to start his car, and winced when he also failed.

“Hey,” Taako said, putting a hand on Kravitz’s shoulder, “you doing alright?”

Kravitz looked down at Taako, and there was something in his expression that clued Taako into the fact that the answer was no, definitely not, something was very wrong.

“I’m so sorry,” Kravitz said, and Taako’s stomach began to churn instantly. He should have known this would happen.

“What,” was all Taako could get out. He felt like he knew what, but despite himself he was hoping that he was wrong. Kravitz gave him a sad smile.

“Dramatic,” he said quietly, so only Taako could hear, “just like you said.”

Taako felt like he was going to be sick.

“I really am sorry,” Kravitz continued. “I can’t do this anymore Taako, I just can’t. We thought this would work but it isn’t, not for me.” He was getting louder as he talked, and the others were turning to look now. Taako turned his face so he wouldn’t have to look at any of them, not his friends, and especially not Kravitz. He balled his fists by his side and clenched his jaw tight.

“I’m not like you,” Kravitz said, and Taako winced. “And besides, we both knew it would end like this, didn’t we? We both knew this wasn’t working and we were just pretending while we were here, but I can’t pretend anymore. I’m done faking, so I think it’s best if we both just stop with this.”

There was a long, awful silence. Taako swallowed a few times before opening his mouth.

“You done?” he asked, still looking away.

Kravitz didn’t answer. Taako took that as a yes.

“You absolute dead man,” Lup said, and Taako turned and put his hand in the middle of her chest to stop her before she got close enough to hit Kravitz. “By the time I’m done with you you won’t need a car,” she shouted. Kravitz, smartly, backed up a few steps. “I’m going to blast your ass all the way back to Neverwinter, you mother fucking, shit stinking, fake ass—”

“Lup,” Taako said sharply, balling the hand that was on her chest into a fist. “Go check if the car starts.”

“But,” she started, but he shook his head slightly, teeth clenched, just wishing he could get out of here.

“Lup,” he said again, forcing himself to look up at Lup. “it doesn’t matter.”

Lup made once last snarling face at Kravitz. “This isn’t over,” she said, spinning on her heel and stomping back towards the garage.

Taako steeled himself, and then turned to look at Kravitz. “If that’s what you want,” he said, pasting half a smile on his face. It was all he could muster. “I ain’t about to stop you. Just know that you’re giving up the best man you’ve ever come across.”

Taako had meant for that to be a goof, but it came out sounding more like a plea. He couldn’t stand to stay there any longer. He walked past Kravitz, into the house, making a beeline to his room with the intent to lock himself in for a while.  

He should have known, he kept thinking. Should have known better than to think that someone like Kravitz would actually like him. Should have known better than to get his hopes up, than to share parts of him, than to actually let himself like someone so much that they could hurt him. He knew something like this would happen, it always did. He should have known better than to think something so good could have ever been permanent for someone like him.

He tried to remind himself of what he told Lup. It didn’t matter. It was only a bit, a goof gone too far. Only pretend. Nothing to get worked up over. Nothing to be upset about. There was nothing there to begin with, after all, so he shouldn’t feel like he was losing anything.

“What’s wrong sir?” Angus asked as Taako stormed past the living room where he and Lucretia were doing some kind of number puzzle. Taako didn’t respond, didn’t even take Magnus’s boots off till he got to his room, slammed the door behind him, and collapsed onto the bed, trying to pretend that it didn’t hurt that the sheets still smelled like Kravitz.

He hoped, for the love of god, the cars started so he could leave this whole awful weekend behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aint it just like a fic writer to leave for months and then return w a healthy dose of angst? But the good news is that finals are over! I'm done with my undergrad and actually have time to write!! I'm already like half way done the last full chapter of this fic! One more and an epilogue and it's all done which is so wild. I can't wait to share the end of this fic with you guys ^-^
> 
> I've shared my tumblr in past chapters but I've been pretty absent from there lately. I'm more active on twitter these days, so if any of yall are interested in hangin with me you can hit me up, @imlitchick I'd love to chat with yall! As always, thanks to all the lovely people leaving comments on this fic!!! i love all of them, you guys keep me going TTvTT


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy christ it's a Candlenights miracle!! That's right folks, I'm back with the final two chapters of this mess, a whole year after I posted the first chapter! Irony upon ironies, I was snowed in at my parents place over Christmas which gave me time to finish lmao. ANYWAY enough of the preamble and on to the amble!! Hope you enjoy!!!

None of the cars started. Kravitz, still standing out front of the house, watched in dismay as every single one failed to turn over, and Davenport said that they should try  bringing the batteries inside to warm up.

“It should only take a couple of hours,” he said, and Kravitz’s heart sank even lower.

His plan had been to drive away from this mess, leaving his problems behind. Maybe, eventually, he’d even be able to forget about all of it.

They unplugged the batteries and took them inside. Kravitz tried to pretend he didn’t notice how they were all looking at him as they passed into the house, expressions ranging from pity to fury. Lup insisted on carrying the battery from her and Taako’s car in herself because, “If my arms aren’t full I’m going to fucking fight him.”

Kravitz stayed outside, sitting on a rope swing tied to the branch of a large tree out front. He couldn’t bring himself to go into the house and face Taako’s family. It was strange, they all knew it was pretend, but this didn’t feel like it was. He’d thought Lup was surely putting on a show for Kravitz’s moms, like she had when he’d first arrived, but it hadn’t felt like an act when she stared him down and for a moment he had been positive she was actually going to kill him. But it must have been an act, really.

He thought he would feel relieved after the fake-breakup with his fake-boyfriend. There was supposed to be a feeling of release after doing the right thing, right? He wouldn’t have to pretend he didn’t have feelings for Taako while Taako held his hand or cuddled up next to him. No need to feel like he was lying. The pressure should have been gone, so why did he still feel awful?

A gust of wind cut across the yard making Kravitz shiver. He wished he could go inside but he felt like he had been banished to the cold. Even he knew he was being dramatic, but he knew if he went in it would be worse.

After about fifteen minutes, Barry came out of the house and started walking towards Kravitz. Kravitz tried to avoid eye contact, sure that nothing good would come out of this confrontation.

“Hey,” Barry said when he got close enough. He put his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. “You staying out here, or…?”

“Hey,” Kravitz said, kicking at the ground and trying not to look guilty. “Yeah.”

“So what the hell happened back there?” Barry asked. Kravitz just shrugged and looked away.

“I was just thinking that this whole charade wasn’t really good for either of us, y’know? Like, all this pretending to be into each other, someone was bound to get hurt, and I figured it was a good idea to cut it all off before that happened.”

“Hmm.” Barry nodded, his facial expression clearly showing how insufficient he thought that answer was. “So you talk to him about it, you don’t just tear into him in front of everyone.”

Kravitz shrugged. “I had to end the game with a bang, didn’t I?” he said, attempting to make it sound like a joke. “Make it like we were really breaking up, or whatever. I guess I should have run it by him, but it’s not like we actually broke up or anything. He’s not actually hurt I mean. Just upset that the game is over, I guess.”

Barry crossed his arms. “Sorry, Krav,” he said, “but that’s bullshit and I think you know it.”

Kravitz looked away, biting the inside of his cheek. Barry sighed.

“Look, I know Taako can be hard to get to know,” he said, “and it’s not like you’ve known him very long anyway so I get that you don’t understand, but Taako’s my brother.” Barry leaned into Kravitz’s space, and Kravitz suddenly got the feeling that no matter how mild-mannered he seemed, Barry could be frightening when he had to be. “I know what’s going on with him better than you do right now, so I want you to tell me the truth.”

Kravitz sighed. “Okay, okay,” he said, “I may not have been entirely truthful before.”

“I’ll say,” Barry said, leaning back again. He paused expectantly, waiting for Kravitz to continue.

“When I said I wanted to end the game before someone got hurt, that wasn’t really fair, because…” Kravitz hesitated, unsure if he really wanted to admit what he was going to.  “Because I was already being hurt by it,” he said in a rush.

“What do you mean?” Barry asked, his stance softening even as his tone remained the same. Kravitz squeezed his eyes shut before he answered.

“I started to have feelings for Taako,” he said quietly. For a moment he wasn’t sure if Barry heard him, but then he responded.

“Yeah, and?”

“What?” Kravitz looked up at Barry, startled. “Like, _feelings_ , you know? Gay feelings? For real?”

Barry nodded, still looking annoyed. He didn’t seem to understand what Kravitz was saying.

“And, you know,” Kravitz continued, wondering why he had to spell it out like this. It was hard enough to talk about as it was. “It was hard pretending to be in a relationship with him when I had those feelings and I knew it wasn’t real.”

Barry rubbed at his eyes, exasperated. “Good god, you two deserve each other,” he muttered.

“What?” Kravitz felt like he was missing something.

“You’re telling me that you can’t see that Taako is into you?” Barry said, crossing his arms. Kravitz’s breath caught in his throat.

“He is?”

Barry just nodded. Kravitz took a steadying breath, thinking about this new information.

“Well,” he said eventually, “does that matter?”

Barry furrowed his brow. “Doesn’t it?” he asked. “It means you really hurt him with that stunt you pulled.”

Kravitz frowned. “It’s just,” he said hesitantly, wondering if it would be better if he just shut up and let it be, “I don’t know if that really changes anything, you know? Cause he might be into me for now, but, I dunno, that doesn’t really mean that he’d want to like, actually date me.”

“Listen, Kravitz, I get it,” Barry said, shaking his head, “the twins can be intimidating. Why do you think it took me almost three years to ask Lup out? But they’re also some of the best people I know and I know you see that too.”

“I just,” Kravitz mumbled, hesitating. “He’s so exciting and bright and I’m… not.”

Barry sighed and gave Kravitz and understanding nod. “Like I said, I went through the same kind of thing with Lup,” he said, “but if you would just give it a shot you might be surprised with how well it could go.” He gave Kravitz a critical look. “I’m going to be honest with you, because I think you deserve that. You’re going to have to make up for this mess and, if I know anything about how Taako can be, it won’t be easy. If you can do it, I think the two of you might be good.”

Kravitz frowned, staring at the snow. Barry was one of the people who knew Taako best, and, in theory, this conversation should have been reassuring. But his stomach was still churning with nerves, though now he felt like an entirely different kind.

Barry looked like he was about to say something else when Angus came tearing out of the house, running up to the two of them.

“Sirs!” He exclaimed breathlessly, “Taako’s gone missing!”

Kravitz shot to his feet, gripping the ropes of the swing. He glanced at Barry, who didn’t look as worried as Kravitz felt.

“Did he leave through the back door again?” Barry asked, unconcerned. 

“His window,” Angus said. Barry heaved a sigh.

“Shoulda seen that one coming,” he said. “Alright, well, we’ll find him around here somewhere.”

“Does this happen a lot?” Kravitz asked as the three of them started back towards the house.

“Now and then,” Barry replied. “When he gets upset he likes to be alone, and sometimes that means he just up and leaves a place.”

“Will he be okay?” Kravitz asked as they got to the door of the cottage.

“Probably,” Barry said, “but Lup’ll be worried.”

Kravitz paused, thinking twice before entering the cottage. Lup would still be pissed at him, but maybe he could make it up to her if he found her brother.

As soon as he walked through the door, Lup was in his face staring him down. “You gonna help find my brother?” She demanded. He nodded.

“I’m sorry,” he told her, “I think I made a mistake. I hope I can make things better.”

She squinted at him, and then looked over at Barry, who nodded. She glared at Kravitz a moment longer before speaking.

“We’ll see about that. If you make things right with my brother, then maybe I’ll think about forgiving you. But you better make it good, buddy.”

Kravitz nodded. He wasn’t sure how he would make things better, but he knew he had to try.

“Alright,” Lup said, “well he’s around here somewhere. We’ll have to check his usual spots. He’s probably somewhere in the woods.”

Kravitz had a sudden thought, an idea about where Taako might have gone.

“I’m going to check around the bridge,” he said, and Lup nodded.

“Well go then,” she said, shooing him out the door.

Kravitz ran down the path towards the bridge, hoping he remembered the way. He was thinking of all the things he’d told Barry, all the things Barry had told him, and cursing himself for being so stupid. He couldn’t believe he was only just now seeing the truth. He should have seen the signs that Taako liked him, and maybe he had subconsciously. Maybe that had been what scared him so much. It wasn’t like him to be so insecure that he would sabotage himself like he had, but the truth was that it was almost unthinkable to him that Taako, Taako who was so vibrant, exciting, full of life, could be into him. But if he was, if Barry was right, then maybe they did stand a chance. 

Kravitz spotted him sitting on the bridge with his legs through the slats, head bent low as he stared as the river. He slowed when he saw Taako, suddenly very aware that he had no idea what to say.

“Hey,” he managed after a moment. Taako turned and looked over to him for a moment before looking away again.

“What do you want?” Taako asked shortly. Kravitz froze for a moment longer, sure that there was nothing he could say to fix this. Still, he had to try. He took a step forward.

“Can we talk?” He said. Taako snorted.

“About what?” he asked. “Did you forget to say something back there in front of everyone?”

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz said. It had just spilled out, without him thinking about it, and it sounded so inadequate now that he’d said it.

Taako was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke his voice was soft. “Don’t be,” he said. “I knew it was coming.” He paused a moment longer, and then turned to look at Kravitz with an unconvincing smile. “Just part of the game, right?”

Kravitz sighed, stepping onto the bridge. “No,” he said, “no it wasn’t. It was just me, being stupid and afraid and I’m sorry.”

Taako blinked and turned away. “What the hell does that mean?” he said, although it sounded more like he was talking to himself than to Kravitz.

“You must be cold,” Kravitz said after a moment, struggling to find something to say as he sat a fair distance from Taako. Taako shrugged, but Kravitz could see how he was shivering in his thin sweater, clutching his arms close to his chest. He moved to put an arm around Taako, out of instinct more than anything else.

“Don’t do anything you don’t mean,” Taako said shortly. Kravitz hesitated a moment before putting his arm around Taako anyway.

“Listen, Taako, I’m sorry,” he said again, being sure to put thought behind his words this time as he pulled himself closer to Taako in an attempt to share his body heat. “It was never fair of me to ask you to play this game.”

Taako pulled away slightly, hands balled into fists in his lap. But he didn’t pull away completely, letting Kravitz’s arm stay. Kravitz took that as a good sign.

“Playing with feeling like we were, it wasn’t healthy, and I had to put a stop to it, because…” Kravitz trailed into silence for a moment. His stomach felt like it had caught fire with nerves. He stared down intently at the rushing water below them as he spoke. “Well, because I had started to have real... real feelings. For you.”

Kravitz glanced nervously at Taako, trying to see what he thought from his face. It was perfectly still, expressionless except for perhaps slightly widened eyes. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to say anything, Kravitz gathered his courage and kept going. “I shouldn’t have let it get as far as it did, because it was probably inevitable that feelings would start getting hurt. I thought I was the only one who was being hurt by it though, which is why I did what I did. I didn’t know, I didn’t think that it could be hurting you too.” He took a breath. “Which isn’t an excuse, I promise, I’m just trying to explain. It was fine when it was all for fun or whatever, but when it started getting real I should have told you. Instead I tried to push you away, and that was poor decision making on my part. I should have just told you, but I didn’t know how. And I’m sorry.”

Taako was still silent, but Kravitz wasn’t sure he had anything left to say. Well, maybe one last thing. “You don’t have to forgive me,” he said quietly, “but even if you don’t, I just want to tell you that you’re the most incredible person I’ve ever met. You’re captivating and vibrant and I’m so lucky to even have met you. And I was hoping that, if you can forgive me, maybe we could try this again? For real this time?” Kravitz turned away, face growing warmer against the cold. “If you want to, anyway.”

There was a moment of silence before Taako leaned into Kravitz’s side. Kravitz, not knowing what was happening, held still for fear of scaring him off. Taako buried his face in Kravitz’s shoulder.

“You’re an idiot,” Taako said, voice muffled by Kravitz’s jacket. “You better be good to me this time, or it’ll be me staging the dramatic breakup.”

Kravitz laughed, mystified. Had he heard right? Never mind that, had he actually said all those things? Had Taako heard _him_? It was unthinkable, but here they were, both freezing cold but laughing with each other, pressed close together and looking each other in the eyes. Kravitz had the completely ridiculous thought that they were really seeing each other for the first time. He reached up, reverently, and put a hand on Taako’s cheek to check to see if he was real.

Taako pulled away suddenly. “Shit my man,” he said, “your hands are COLD!” But he was grinning, and soon enough he had leaned back in, face so close to Kravitz’s that Kravitz could feel Taako’s breath warming his cheeks, could see how red and cold Taako’s nose must be.

Careful not to touch his face again, Kravitz leaned forwards and kissed Taako’s nose in an attempt to warm it up. Taako let it happen for a moment before pulling Kravitz in by the jacket for a real kiss, deep and full of feeling. A kiss that had been foretold in the silence after the first kiss they had shared in the closet. A kiss that was full of everything they had been holding back all weekend.

Kravitz was just beginning to think that he might have to come up for air when the sound of a stick snapping jerked the two of them apart, looking around for the culprit. There, in the woods a dozen feet away, Magnus was leaning around a tree to get a better look at the two of them. He wasn’t the only one either, Lup was with him, arms crossed but smiling reluctantly. Barry, standing behind her, seemed to be trying to pull both her and Magnus back and shot an embarrassed smile at Taako and Kravitz in apology. Taako laughed.

“No privacy with these wingnuts around,” he joked, quietly enough so that only Kravitz heard him. Kravitz smiled and waved at the small group, before turning back to Taako, noticing once again that he was shivering.

“You’re freezing,” he said, rubbing Taako’s arms up and down to try and warm them. “Come on, let’s get you back inside. People were really worried about you.”

“Eh, they’re used to it,” Taako said. He had at least remembered to put Magnus’s boots on before he made a run for it, Kravitz noticed gratefully. He helped Taako to his feet and slipped off his jacket, wrapping it around Taako’s shoulders. Taako leaned into him as he did, smiling up fondly. “You’ll have to get used to it too, handsome,” he said. “Taako can be a real handful.”

Kravitz smiled softly, wrapping his arms around Taako so he could guide him back to the cottage. “I’m sure he’s worth it,” he said. Either way, Kravitz was determined to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally!! Closure!!!! I know it was one hell of a wait, but at least they're finally together!! And yes, there will be one last shorter epilogue chapter, but don't worry about waiting for 6+ months for that one, it's already written and being beta'd, and as soon as edits are done I'll be posting it! Thanks so much for everyone who's read all of this silly fic so far, I'll be doing longer thank yous at the end of next chapter but I just wanted to give an extra shout out to everyone who's been following this fic and posting lovely comments even when it seemed like it was long forgotten about, it's you guys who really made me actually finish this <3 As always gods bless all of you for reading and gods extra double bless you if you leave a comment!! love you guys, see you soon with the final chapter!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy I am so excited about this fic I hope you guys like it because I am having so much fun writing it. I'm hoping to release new chapters at least weekly, but I might up it to twice a week depending on how the writing goes. I have 9 chapters planned so far but that might change haha and the title is from the Fall Out Boy song of the same title. Anyway I hope you guys are into this!!! Happy whichever holiday you celebrate and I'll see you with the next chapter soon!!


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